Abstract
Objective: To examine how children's injury attributions and coping strategies relate to procedure-related distress during unplanned medical procedures (laceration repair). Methods: Children (N = 50) with minor lacerations were assessed from emergency department admittance until discharge. Children's attributions of causes regarding their injury were assessed, and the Procedural Behavior Checklist was administered to each child (to assess coping strategies and procedure-related distress). Results: Internally focused attributions of blame correlated with higher distress. Overall, children who reported primary-control coping, as opposed to secondary-control coping and relinquished-control coping, exhibited more pain during the procedure. Children who reported secondary-control coping, as opposed to relinquished-control coping, reported less pain after the procedure. Conclusions: Injury attributions and coping style are significant factors in children's pain experiences. These results suggest that self-blame may heighten subsequent pain experiences. In addition, similar coping strategies appear to be adaptive for unplanned medical procedures as have been found for planned medical procedures.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 615-622 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of pediatric psychology |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2005 |
Funding
This research was supported in part by William T. Grant Foundation and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. The authors thank the faculty and staff of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Emergency Department for their support of this study and the Washington University undergraduate students who helped with data collection.
Keywords
- Child attribution
- Child coping
- Injury
- Medical procedure
- Pain
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health