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. 2010 Jul;1(3):142-5.
doi: 10.4103/0976-237X.72778.

The language of pain: A short study

Arun Rathnam  1 , Nidhi Madan, Neeti Madan
Affiliations

The language of pain: A short study

Arun Rathnam et al. Contemp Clin Dent. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Pain perception is a very controversial topic in child patients. It is affected by various factors such as fear, anxiety, previous experiences, parental factors, and pain threshold. The communication of such pain by the child to the parent is also very confusing with children having rudimentary and developing communication skills. A study to evaluate the pain perception of children and the parental understanding of the children's pain would be helpful in this scenario. The effect on behavior due to pain is also attempted in this particular study.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study of 100 children aged between 5-13 years accompanied by either parent was performed. Data collection was done with the help of questionnaires, which assessed the parental understanding of the child's pain. Pain perception recording was done with the Visual Analog Scale of Faces (VASOF). The behavior of the child was noted using the Frankl's behavior rating scale. Data was collated and statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS (version 10) software.

Results and conclusion: The results show that parental factors such as education, work culture, influence parental understanding of pain. VASOF proves to be a reliable tool for pain perception in children. Behavior of the child shows a positive correlation to pain perception.

Keywords: Behavior rating; pain perception; visual analog scale.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Visual analog scale of faces
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pain perception in children
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlation of pain perception between child and parent
Figure 4
Figure 4
Correlation of education level of parent and understanding of pain perception
Figure 5
Figure 5
Correlation of work status of parent and understanding of pain perception
Figure 6
Figure 6
Correlation of intensity of pain and behavior of child in dental set up
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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