Pain Control and Parent Mental Health Among Pediatric Inpatients

OBJECTIVE: Pain control remains a problem for hospitalized children, with more than half experiencing ongoing pain. Pain in turn negatively affects child quality of life. To clarify the relationship between inpatient pain control and parent and child psychological factors, we tested the hypotheses that pain control is worse in the context of higher child executive function problems, lower parent mindfulness, and higher parent mental health symptoms.

METHODS: We conducted an observational study of stable pediatric inpatients' (n = 81; mean age = 10.5 [SD 4.7]; 55% male) nurse-recorded pain scores; physical health and executive function; and parental cognitive-affective mindfulness and mental health. Linear mixed models examined associations between these variables and changes in pain scores over time, adjusting for covariates.

RESULTS: After adjusting for child age, child gender, and parent educational status, both time (β = -.23, P = .003) and baseline pain (β = .43, P < .001) were related to pain control. After adjusting for demographics, time, and baseline pain, both parental anxiety (β = .11, P < .001) and depression (β = .12, P < .001) were significantly related to pain control.

CONCLUSIONS: Child pain control worsened with higher parent anxiety and depression. The results highlight the importance of offering mental health resources to distressed parents of hospitalized children in pain.