The impact of parental health mindset on postoperative recovery in children

Abstract

Clinical Implications: a. What is already known about the topic There is a need to optimize children's surgical recovery. The concept of mindset, or one's beliefs about the ability to change consquences and outcomes, has been studied extensively in the educational space but not in the pediatric surgical space. b. What new information this study adds We found that parent mindset affects their assessment and management of child's pain. The next step will be to to develop a clinical intervention that will be directed at changing parental mindset and thus enhancing children's surgical recovery.

Mindset over matter: Is parental health mindset an appropriate target for intervention?

“…1,2 Furthermore, the mean pain scores in both groups of children on the Faces Pain Scale-Revised indicate at least moderate pain on postoperative day 1. 1,3 We agree that proactive treatment, including regularly administered analgesic medication, is required considering the severity of the pain as perceived by the parents and experienced by the children in this study. However, in view of the finding that children with parents of a fixed mindset received analgesia more frequently, we wonder how Kain and colleagues' observation that "[because] mindset can be altered, this finding could have a significant impact on managing postoperative pain in children at home" might be translated into practice?…”

“…Dear Sir, We enjoyed discussing Kain and colleagues' recent paper at our online journal club. 1 This fascinating cohort study explores the impact of parental mindset in the context of routine ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgery and demonstrates differences in the perceptions and behaviors of parents with a 'growth' mindset (ie, the belief that one's skills are malleable and that outcomes can be changed) and those with a 'fixed' mindset (ie, the belief that skills and consequences are unchangeable). However, there was no difference in the pain scores of the children themselves between cohorts.…”

“…However, there was no difference in the pain scores of the children themselves between cohorts. 1 This raises an important question: Is parental mindset an appropriate target for intervention in this setting?…”

“…Kain and colleagues’ study makes use of baseline and control data from a larger project that aims to evaluate a behavioral program, 1 which although not fully described in their paper presumably incorporates interventions to address parental health mindset. Though it is not explicit which of the two mindsets is thought to be ‘better’, the growth mindset is associated with tendencies which are conventionally thought of as positive, such as engagement in information‐seeking and an empowered approach to health.…”

“…As such, Kain and colleagues hypothesized that parents in this cohort would be more proactive in managing their children's pain, with associated improvements in recovery. It is therefore somewhat counterintuitive that those with a fixed mindset actually administered more doses of ibuprofen to their children on postoperative day 1 1 . While this is consistent with the fixed mindset parents’ perception that their children's pain was more severe and their recovery was less complete, it should be noted that the mean pain perception scores among parents of both mindsets (9.22 vs. 8.17 on the Parents’ Postoperative Pain Measure ) indicate ‘clinically significant’ pain 1,2 .…”