294 research outputs found

    Comparison of High and Low Distraction for Pediatric Procedural Pain

    Get PDF
    Distraction is an effective pain management intervention and children’s coping styles are important to consider when designing interventions. The purpose of this study was to examine two movie distractions in children 3 to 11 years old receiving venipunctures and to evaluate the relations between the effectiveness of the interventions and coping styles. Results revealed no interaction and no main effects of condition or coping style. However, coping on caregiver-report of child pain approached significance. T-tests revealed significant differences between approach and avoidance coping styles, with children with an approach coping style experiencing significantly less pain compared to children with an avoidance coping style. Descriptive statistics revealed the presence of a mixed coping style, suggesting that children’s coping styles may be continuous. This study highlights the importance of examining coping styles in the context of pediatric painful medical procedures and the need to further examine the effectiveness of distraction interventions

    Pain, Quality of Life, and Coping in Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease

    Get PDF
    Introduction: Sickle cell disease (SCD) affects predominately African Americans and is one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States (Schecter, 1999). Research has not sufficiently examined whether pain associated with SCD impacts quality of life or whether coping impacts this relation. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between pain and quality of life in children with SCD and to determine whether coping moderates the relation. A secondary aim was to examine associations between age and pain, quality of life, and coping. A final exploratory aim was to examine the relation between racial identity and study variables. Method: 104 children (M = 12.93 years, SD = 3.17 years) with SCD and their parents participated during a regularly scheduled SCD-related medical visit. Parents completed a demographic form. Children completed the Pediatric Pain Questionnaire (PPQ), the Pain Coping Questionnaire (PCQ), the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), Sickle Cell Disease Quality of Life (SCD-QoL), and the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI). Results: After controlling for site and gender, regression analyses revealed that pain (ƒÒ = -0.37) and emotion-focused avoidance coping (ƒÒ = -0.39) were significant predictors of overall generic quality of life (PedsQL Total Score), total R2 = 0.44, F (5, 93) = 13.88, p \u3c 0.001. There was no significant pain x coping interactions found for overall generic quality of life. Child age was not associated with study variables. Exploratory analyses revealed the MIBI Centrality Scale was associated with PCQ Approach Coping, r (80) = -0.24, p \u3c 0.05, and the MIBI Regard Scale was correlated with PCQ Problem-Focused Avoidance Coping, r (84) = 0.30, p \u3c 0.01. Discussion: This study found that pain and emotion-focused avoidance coping were inversely associated with quality of life in children with SCD. Coping was not found to moderate the relation between pain and overall quality of life. The associations between racial identity and coping demonstrate the importance of further examining cultural factors in children with SCD. In addition, there continues to be a need for future research to focus on the psychosocial functioning of children with SCD

    A Proposed Ethical Framework for the Psychosocial Evaluation of the Living Kidney Donor

    Get PDF
    This thesis argues that living kidney donation (LKD) is ethically justified, despite the donor’s exposure to its inherent risks and harm, because permitting justified cases of LKD upholds the autonomous decision of the donor to pursue his/her life values and direction. Consideration of the psychological and emotional benefits of LKD and the harm from being prevented to donate allows a more comprehensive perspective of LKD. Medical and psychosocial evaluations of prospective donors function as procedural safeguards. These evaluations aim to protect the well-being of donors by minimizing the risks to the donor, while recognizing the donor’s interest in donation and rights of autonomous decision making. Evaluations also reveal pertinent information to transplant professionals to help them weigh the risks and benefits of LKD specific to individual prospective donors. For the LKD to move forward, a prospective donor must meet established medical and psychosocial criteria. In Singapore, the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) charges a medical social worker with performing the psychosocial evaluation of the prospective donor, and this evaluation is regarded as the expert review which a nationally-appointed transplant ethics committee relies upon in authorizing applications for living kidney donations and transplants. The thesis presents assessment domains for this psychosocial evaluation of the donor, connects these domains to normative principles purporting to justify their inclusion, and highlights those domains that may raise ethical challenges. The thesis discusses the psychosocial evaluation process as currently undertaken in Singapore, and how the inclusion of a collateral person, as contemplated by the HOTA, can be ethically problematic. While social workers are well-suited to conduct the psychosocial assessment because of their training, experience and the normative commitments of their profession, their involvement also raises some ethical concerns that are discussed

    The Influence of Illness Burden and Social Support on the Completion of Kidney Transplant Evaluation

    Get PDF
    Kidney transplantation is the preferred method of treatment to dialysis for end stage renal disease (ESRD) because of its many proven benefits over dialysis treatment. Patients interested in kidney transplantation must undergo a kidney transplant (KT) evaluation to determine their medical and psychosocial eligibility. A timely completion of the KT evaluation is critical for prompt listing for or the receipt of a KT. However, ESRD patients suffer from significant illness burden that interferes in their participation of life activities, which can affect their completion of KT evaluations. At the same time, the presence of social support is known to abate symptom burden and the perception of illness burden. This implies that social support has the potential to facilitate completions of KT evaluations by moderating illness burden. This novel study is the first to examine how social support buffers illness burden in affecting KT evaluation completion. This quantitative study involves 1,130 study participants recruited from the Starzl Transplant Institute of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The goals of this study are 1) to understand how demographic factors (age, gender, race and income), illness burden and social support independently affects time taken to complete KT evaluation, and 2) to assess how these factors interact in influencing time to complete KT evaluation. The hypothesis that social support buffers illness burden in the completion of KT evaluation was not supported. Instead social support demonstrated main effects on the completion of KT evaluation: higher level of perceived social support was associated with a higher rate of KT evaluation completion. Older age, lower income, African American race and greater illness comorbidity were associated with lower KT evaluation completion rates. Limitations of the study include: a single-center study with non-random patient participation, a limited examination of social network based on network size, and the violation of proportionality of hazard assumption in the Cox regression analysis

    Relationship between parenting style, alexithymia and aggression in emerging adults

    Get PDF
    Alexithymia has been linked to reduced emotional awareness and increased aggression. One line of evidence suggests that authoritarian parenting contributes to the development of alexithymia. To elucidate the relationship between experienced parenting style, alexithymia and aggression the Parental Authority Questionnaire, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire were administered to a group of emerging adults. Current findings show a positive relationship between: (i) authoritarian parenting style and alexithymia, (ii) alexithymia and aggression, iii) authoritarian parenting style and aggression. This study also found that paternal authoritarian parenting predicted alexithymia and aggression when controlling for maternal authoritarian style, but not the other way round. In addition, alexithymia mediated the relationship between paternal authoritarian parenting and aggression when controlling for maternal authoritarian style suggesting that elevated alexithymia which is likely to be a consequence of authoritarian parenting, especially when it is practiced by a father, contributes to increased aggression in adulthood

    Association of the rs3743205 variant of DYX1C1 with dyslexia in Chinese children

    Get PDF
    <p>Abstract</p> <p><b>Background</b></p> <p>Dyslexia is a learning disability that is characterized by difficulties in the acquisition of reading and spelling skills independent of intelligence, motivation or schooling. Studies of western populations have suggested that <it>DYX1C1 </it>is a candidate gene for dyslexia. In view of the different languages used in Caucasian and Chinese populations, it is therefore worthwhile to investigate whether there is an association of <it>DYX1C1 </it>in Chinese children with dyslexia.</p> <p>Method and Results</p> <p>Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped from three hundred and ninety three individuals from 131 Chinese families with two which have been reported in the literature and six tag SNPs at <it>DYX1C1</it>. Analysis for allelic and haplotypic associations was performed with the UNPHASED program and multiple testing was corrected using false discovery rates. We replicated the previously reported association of rs3743205 in Chinese children with dyslexia (<it>p</it><sub><it>corrected </it></sub>= 0.0072). This SNP was also associated with rapid naming, phonological memory and orthographic skills in quantitative trait analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings suggest that <it>DYX1C1 </it>is associated with dyslexia in people of Chinese ethnicity in Hong Kong.</p

    Shelter colour preference in the purple mud crab Scylla tranquebarica (Fabricius)

    Get PDF
    Cannibalism a serious problem in the grow-out of mud crabs in ponds. Studies have proven that presence of shelters decreases aggressive behaviour of Scylla spp. in ponds and tanks. In this study, the shelter colour preference was determined in the wild captured purple mud crab Scylla tranquebarica (Fabricius) in an outdoor round black tank. Eight out of 48 PVC pipes were painted either blue, green, red, black or white. Other eight were not painted and were provided as grey shelters. The shelters were presented in different two-colour pairs to a group of 35 crabs; eight shelters of one colour and eight of other colour were arranged alternately on the tank bottom, and the number of occupants was recorded. After emptying the shelters, the shelters rearranged for the next observation. Each colour combination was repeated five times, and total of 15 combinations were tested. The number of occupants against each colour of the different pairs were analyzed by the χ2-test and Thurstone’s law of comparative judgment. The data were converted into mean z-scores and significant biases from zero were noted. Underwater visibility of each colour shelter was visually measured through a waterproof digital CCD camera. The crabs showed a strong bias for blue shelter and white shelter chosen the least under the holding condition. The underwater visibility was highest in blue and white colour shelters among the six colour shelters. The observed colour preference was probably due to colour per se and may be an innate ability, rather than due to relative underwater visibility. During the observations, the shelter occupants were tolerant of intruders; there was no aggressive competition for shelter and two to four crabs shared one shelter. It was hypothesized that the touch stimulus of shelter suppresses the aggressiveness and results in low cannibalism of S. tranquebarica

    A Randomized Clinical Trial of Vapocoolant for Pediatric Immunization Pain Relief

    Get PDF
    OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of vapocoolant for preschoolers’ immunization injection pain relief. STUDY DESIGN: 57 4- to 6-year-old children were randomized to vapocoolant alone or typical care conditions. Pain was measured at baseline and at injection via self-report, caregiver-report, nurse-report, and an observational scale. RESULTS: Self-report suggested that children in the vapocoolant alone condition demonstrated stronger increases in pain from baseline to injection than typical care. All other measures showed significant increases in pain from baseline to injection, but none indicted treatment effects. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with prior studies, vapocoolant might not be an effective pain-management intervention for children’s intramuscular injections

    Randomized Clinical Trial of Distraction for Infant Immunization Pain

    Get PDF
    Distraction has been shown to be an effective technique for managing pain in children; however, few investigations have examined the utility of this technique with infants. The goal of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of movie distraction in reducing infants’ immunization distress. Participants were 136 infants (range = 1 to 21 months; M = 7.6 months, SD = 5.0 months) and their parents, all of whom were recruited when presenting for routine vaccinations. The parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to either a Distraction or Typical Care control condition. Infant and adult behaviors were assessed using a visual analog scale and a behavioral observation rating scale. Results indicated parents in the Distraction group engaged in higher rates of distraction than those in the Typical Care group, whereas there was no difference in the behavior of nurses in the Distraction and Typical Care groups. In addition, infants in the Distraction group displayed fewer distress behaviors than infants in the Typical Care group both prior to and during recovery from the injection. Findings suggest that a simple and practical distraction intervention can provide some distress relief to infants during routine injections
    • …
    corecore