https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7355-0706
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Line Caes, Commentary: Parent-Child Interactions During Painful Medical Procedures: Recommendations by Blount and Colleagues (1991) Have not Fallen on Deaf Ears!, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Volume 44, Issue 7, August 2019, Pages 794–797, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsz032
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Since the inception of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology 50 years ago, the important role of the social context in understanding children’s pain experiences has featured to a large extent within the journal, thereby contributing to our growing understanding of the complexities within pediatric pain experiences. The work by Prof. Blount and colleagues, aimed at understanding the various social influences (i.e., from staff as well as parents) on the pain and distress experience of children undergoing medical procedures, produced a series of high-quality papers which played a prominent role in laying the foundations for this area of research (see e.g., Blount, Corbin, Sturges, Wolfe, Prater, & James 1989; Blount, Davis, Powers, & Roberts, 1991; Blount, Landolf-Fritsche, Powers, & Sturges, 1991; Blount, Sturges, & Powers, 1990; Frank, Blount, Smith, Manimala, & Martin, 1995). The focus of this commentary will be on the article by Blount and colleagues, originally published in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology in 1991, which demonstrated that adult’s responses to child pain differ depending on children’s level of coping behavior, with no differences observed for children’s responsiveness to parents versus staff behaviors. These findings as well as their rigorous methodological approach, substantially influenced research and clinical practice on the social context of pediatric pain experiences during medical procedures. The two main recommendations the authors made, that is, systematic replication of their findings and the need for evidence-based training programs, did not fall on deaf ears and have received substantial research attention in the past 30 years. This commentary will focus on providing a summary of how the evidence base on parent-child interactions during painful procedures has evolved since this publication, and how this growing evidence base influenced the design and evaluation of pain management interventions for acute pediatric pain.
