title: Caring for children with intellectual disabilities part 1: Experience with the population, pain-related beliefs, and care decisions.
abstract: Some children with intellectual disabilities (ID): experience pain more frequently than children without ID, express their pain differently, and are incapable of providing self-reports. No research has examined disability and pain-related beliefs of respite workers (RW) and their relations to pain assessment and management decisions for children with ID.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  (1) compare disability and pain-related beliefs between RW and a sample with little experience in ID; (2) determine whether individuals' beliefs and personal characteristics are related to pain assessment and management decisions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-six RW (aged: 18-67 years, Mage=33.37, 46 female) and 141 emerging adults (aged: 18-31 years, Mage=19.67, 137 female).
  In an online survey, participants responded to six vignettes depicting pain in children with ID, and completed measures of pain and disability-related beliefs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared to those without experience, RW held more positive disability-related beliefs, t(192)=4.23, p<0.001. Participants' pain-related beliefs (e.g., sensitivity to pain) differed depending on severity of the child's ID and participant group. Participants' pain-related beliefs predicted care decisions. Results provide initial insight into RW pain-related beliefs about children with ID, and a basic understanding of the relations among pain beliefs, personal characteristics and pain-related decisions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Canada. Electronic address: lgenik@uoguelph.ca.
authors.forename: Lara M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Genik
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Canada; McMaster Children's Hospital, Canada; Children's Health Research Institute, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Western University, Canada.
authors.forename: C Meghan
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: McMurtry
authors.affiliation: Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, Canada.
authors.forename: Lynn M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Breau
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000451:nursing*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D010146:Pain / Q000451:nursing*; D012144:Respite Care; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Children; Intellectual disability; Pain assessment; Pain management; Respite