A child in pain: A psychologist’s perspective on changing priorities in scientific understanding and clinical care

Abstract

My research and clinical career followed a trajectory of increasing appreciation for the importance of social factors as determinants of pain experience and expression.The social contexts of children's lives determine whether infants and children are exposed to pain, how socialization in family and ethnocultural contexts lead to pain as a social experience, comprised of thoughts and feelings as well as sensory input, how others shape pain experience and expression, less so for automatic/reflexive features than purposeful representations, and how other's appraisals of children's pain reflect the observer's unique background and capacities for intervening in the child's interests. A greater understanding of the social dimensions of pain, as reflected in the social communication model of pain, would support innovation of psychological and social interventions.

Pain burden in children with cerebral palsy (CPPain) survey: Study protocol

“…On the one hand, it can be argued that being the sibling of a child living with a disability, they are not representative of children in general. On the other hand, by including siblings as the control group, we have ensured that both cases and controls live in a similar social and socioeconomic environment, and we know that social factors have a large influence on the experience and expression of pain 67 …”

“…On the other hand, by including siblings as the control group, we have ensured that both cases and controls live in a similar social and socioeconomic environment, and we know that social factors have a large influence on the experience and expression of pain. 67 …”

“…On the other hand, by including siblings as the control group, we have ensured that both cases and controls live in a similar social and socioeconomic environment, and we know that social factors have a large influence on the experience and expression of pain. 67 Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about major changes. Not only have parents experienced an increased care burden due to closing schools and childcare, there have been major changes in the provision of health care, where services have been closed or less accessible than before.…”

A gamified mobile health intervention for children in day surgery care: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Pain management is important for postsurgical care, and relevant in the context of paediatric surgery because children might suffer from behavioural problems and eating difficulties after their surgery (Power et al., 2012 ). However, pain among children who have undergone surgery is still underestimated and poorly managed (Craig, 2020 ; Dorkham et al, 2014 ), as some children may be surprised by the amount of postoperative pain (Friedrichsdorf & Goubert, 2019 ; Sutters et al., 2007 ). Nevertheless, knowledge about interventions for managing acute pain among children has increased in recent years (Caes et al., 2016 ; Friedrichsdorf & Goubert, 2019 ).…”

To know where we came from

“…It is impossible to talk about the social context of pain without referring to Kenneth Craig and his foundational work on pain as a social experience. In his paper, Craig describes his efforts over several decades to understand the social dimension of pain 4 as it is conceptualized in the social communication model of pain. 5 …”