SUPER Scale to the Rescue: Reconciling What Parents Say and What They Communicate During Their Child’s Pain

Abstract

Aim: Fully illuminating mechanisms relating parent behaviors to child pain require examining both verbal and nonverbal communication. We conducted a multimethod investigation into parent nonverbal communication and physiology, and investigated the psychometric properties of the Scheme for Understanding Parent Emotive Responses Scale to assess parent nonverbals accompanying reassurance and distraction. Materials & methods: 23 children (7–12 years of age) completed the cold pressor task with their parent (predominately mothers). Parent heart rate and heart rate variability were monitored and assessed. The Scheme for Understanding Parent Emotive Responses Scale coding of parent nonverbal behaviors (i.e., vocal cues, facial expressions, posture) was used to detect levels of fear, warmth, disengagement and humor. Results & conclusion: Preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of the scale are offered. Parent reassurance was associated with more fear, less warmth and less humor compared with distraction.

Keywords::

• acute pain
• nonverbal behavior
• observational coding
• parent behavior
• pediatric pain
• physiology

Author contributions

The data presented here are drawn from the Master’s theses of RL Moline and KL Constantin, under the primary supervision of CM McMurtry. RL Moline, KL Constantin, CM McMurtry and DM Powell (thesis committee member for RL Moline) conceived and designed the study; RL Moline, KL Constantin and MN Gauthier collected and analyzed the data; CM McMurtry contributed materials/equipment/analysis tools/software; RL Moline wrote the first draft of the paper. KL Constantin, MN Gauthier, CM McMurtry and DM Powell edited, reviewed and provided feedback in an iterative process.

Acknowledgments

The following undergraduate students are gratefully acknowledged for their contributions to this project throughout data collection: T de Pass, L-PS Hernandez, L Labonte, M McKay and H Lemon.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

RL Moline and KL Constantin were both supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship at the time of data collection. During the preparation of the manuscript, RL Moline was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and KL Constantin was funded by the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Equipment, computers and software were provided through Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Ministry of Research Innovation funding awarded to CM McMurtry. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human investigations. In addition, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

RL Moline and KL Constantin were both supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship at the time of data collection. During the preparation of the manuscript, RL Moline was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and KL Constantin was funded by the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Equipment, computers and software were provided through Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Ministry of Research Innovation funding awarded to CM McMurtry. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed