Patricia P. Lillis

Pain interventions with children: A meta-analysis of research

A meta-analysis of 27 studies on pain management interventions with children was conducted using two decades of research reported in five disciplines. One-fifth of these studies were in the nursing literature and 78 % were published since 1979. Two complementary methods of calculating the effectiveness of pain management interventions were used for each of three outcome categories. Fishers Combined test procedure was used to combine the results of the independent studies, to determine if a significant relationship existed between pain management programs and childrens response. An overall effect size (r) was also calculated. Significant relationships of small magnitude were found between pain management interventions and childs response for behavioral (r = .41, x2 = 181.97, p < .0001), self-report (r = .34, x2 = 122.06, p < .0001;, and physiologic (r = .30, r2= 88.29, p < .0001; measures.

A Descriptive Analysis of the Pediatric Pain Management Research

A meta-analysis was conducted to summarize the overall effect as well as scope of pediatric pain management research. The findings of this meta-analysis as related to effect size and methodologic characteristics are reported elsewhere. In describing the scope, the authors found that the majority of pediatric pain management research focused on the preparation of relatively well children for acute pain experiences of short duration. The interventions reported consisted of strategies that attempted to increase the cognitive, affective, and/or biophysical skills of the child experiencing pain. Behavioral, self-report, and physiologic measures were used to ascertain childrens response to the painful experience.