Quality of Life, Coping Strategies, and Family Routines in Children with Headache

Frare, Mara; Axia, Giovanna; Battistella, Pier Antonio

doi:10.1046/j.1526-4610.2002.02224.x

Cited by 61 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…This is in agreement with our results published elsewhere [41] in which the migraine subgroup perceived the daily routines as less stressful and had a better relationship with the medical services. Moreover, the high frequency and duration of attacks had a negative influence on the parents and on the daily routine [41]. Family problems and disturbed family relationships may be more common in families with children with severe headache or psychiatric comorbidity [42].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Family ecology in children with primary headache

2002

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IntroductionRecurrent headache is a common symptom in children. By the age of seven, about 30%-50% of children have experienced headache [1][2][3][4]. These proportions dramatically increase during adolescence and may reach the 90% of the adolescent population [1,5,6]. About 15% of school age children suffer from recurrent headache, either tension-type headache or migraine, once a week or more [7][8][9].The frequency, intensity and quality of headaches have been associated with complex interactions between biological, psychological and socio/environmental factors [10][11][12][13]. Psychosocial mechanisms may be relevant in the etiology and pathogenesis of primary headaches and include social and economic status, resilience, housing conditions, family conditions, life events, school conditions and performance, leisure time activities, quality of life, situational factors, coping responses, psychiatric and somatic comorbidity, and behavioral problems [14]. A controlled study [14] of children and adolescents with primary headache showed that migraine is not related to family and housing conditions, school situation or peer relations, whereas tension-type headache is associated with a higher rate of divorced parents and fewer peer relations.There is substantial agreement on the role of the family in the development, maintenance and/or worsening of recurrent headache in adults [15][16][17]. The family not only has a crucial effect in the development of psychosomatic illnesses [18][19][20][21] but also is the basic unit for the health care of its members [22]. Given the broad consensus among researchers and clinicians in the field on the relevance of the family, it is surprising that few studies investigated the role of family factors on children affected by primary headaches. Ursula Napoli Vanna Axia Pier Antonio BattistellaAbstract The focus of this paper is the family factors associated with primary headache in children between 8 and 14 years. We studied the differences in the family ecology between 32 children with headaches and 32 healthy controls. The families were comparable for socio-economic status and children's age. We examined various aspects of the family connectedness, daily workload, social network and support, ecological fit and resilience using an Italian version of the Ecocultural Family Interview. Families of juvenile headache patients have less resilience in using their subsistence base, less social support and are less closely knitted than the control families. No difference was found for the amount of domestic workload. These findings suggest that psychosocial environment and family ecology are relevant to children's headaches, and that clinical support can be planned to sustain parents of children affected by primary headache.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Family ecology in children with primary headache

2002

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“…In earlier studies, it was shown that children and parents often disagree, especially about issues that are abstract or ambiguous, such as internalizing symptoms. 54,55 Parents should be aware of their children's problems because, for instance, Frare et al 56 found that headache frequency and duration have a significant impact on a child's quality of life and the family's daily routine significantly influences the child's coping with headaches and quality of life.…”

Section: E438mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These problems interfere with children's quality of life during a sensitive developmental period 1,2 and are costly for individual families and health services. 3,4 Headache is the most studied somatic symptom among children, and its prevalence is found to vary from 6% 5 to 57%, 6 depending on the definition and classification of headache.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Are there changes in the strengths of associations between somatic and psychiatric symptoms over time? The aims of this study were (1) to deter-mine whether the prevalence of 8-year-old Finnish children's somatic symptoms in 1999 was different from that 10 years earlier (1989), (2) to study the similarity of parents' and children's reports of the child's somatic symptoms, (3) to explore possible comorbidity in the various somatic symptoms, and (4) to examine associations between somatic and psychiatric symptoms and to determine whether there are differences in the strengths of associations in the years 1989 and 1999.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Have There Been Changes in Children's Psychosomatic Symptoms? A 10-Year Comparison From Finland

et al. 2005

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ABSTRACT. Objectives. The aims of the study were to determine whether the prevalence of children's somatic symptoms, such as headache, abdominal pain, other pain, and nausea and vomiting, changed from 1989 to 1999 and to study the similarity of parents' and children's reports of the child's symptoms. Furthermore, the aims were to explore possible comorbidity in somatic symptoms and to investigate the associations between somatic and psychiatric symptoms.Methods. Two cross-sectional, representative samples were compared. All children born in 1981 (1989 sample, n ‫؍‬ 985) and 1991 (1999 sample, n ‫؍‬ 962) and living in selected school districts in southwest Finland served as study samples. The response rate for the 1989 sample was 95% and that for the 1999 sample was 86%. Both children and parents were asked about the children's somatic symptoms, whereas parents, children, and teachers were asked about psychiatric symptoms. To study psychiatric symptoms, the Children's Depression Inventory and Rutter's parent and teacher scales were used.Results. The prevalence of frequent headaches and abdominal pain increased somewhat from 1989 to 1999. Parents often failed to recognize their children's psychosomatic problems. Child-reported somatic symptoms were associated with conduct and hyperactivity symptoms, in addition to a previously well-documented association with depression. In associations between somatic symptoms and psychiatric symptoms, there were some differences between the 1989 and 1999 samples.Conclusions. In clinical work, questions about somatic and psychiatric symptoms should also be addressed to children themselves, because parents and teachers do not always recognize children's symptoms. When somatic problems are being evaluated, psychiatric symptoms should be asked about, and vice versa. More research is needed to explore the reasons for the increased prevalence of somatic symptoms and their associations with psychiatric symptoms. Pediatrics 2005; 115:e434-e442. URL: www.pediatrics.org/cgi

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“…A high comorbidity between these two aversive syndromes is reported [6,13], which seems to continuously increase over time [2,6,7,14]. While abdominal pain symptoms tend to be more frequent, recurrent headache symptoms lead to a considerably higher impact on social activities (friends, school, sports) and to more intense disturbances of children's well-being [6,7,[15][16][17][18][19] and quality of life [20][21][22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalences of primary headache symptoms at school-entry: a population-based epidemiological survey of preschool children in Germany

et al. 2006

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Primary headache and functional abdominal pain prevalences in an unselected populationbased sample of German preschool children and their parents (n=885) were collected in relation to health-related quality of life and sociodemographic variables. The pain symptoms were assessed according to IHS classification (2004) and Rome-II criteria (1999) during the 2004 data census. The participation rate was 62.7%, with an equal gender distribution. The focus of this paper lies on the symptom-oriented point prevalences for primary headaches of preschool children: 3.6% headache, 33.2% abdominal pain, 48.8% headache+abdominal pain and 14.4% without pain. High comorbidities for pain-affected children have been found. Pain intensities differ significantly only for abdominal pain (one-way ANOVA F=3,339, df=4/445, p=0.010*), not for headaches. However, recurrent headaches show a striking ratio in favour of boys (10:1). Children at preschool age have high quality-of-life measures, already influenced negatively by paediatric pain experiences (one-way ANOVA: F=9,193, df=4/546, p=0.000**). Headache and abdominal pain are relevant for children's everyday life; hence, simultaneous and prospective assessment is an essential issue in public health research.

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Quality of Life, Coping Strategies, and Family Routines in Children with Headache

Abstract: More research is needed on the causal factors influencing child's ability to cope with pain, and in particular more attention should be devoted to the contextual and family factors related to pediatric headache.

Cited by 61 publications

References 26 publications

Family ecology in children with primary headache

Family ecology in children with primary headache

Have There Been Changes in Children's Psychosomatic Symptoms? A 10-Year Comparison From Finland

Prevalences of primary headache symptoms at school-entry: a population-based epidemiological survey of preschool children in Germany

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