Abstract
Background: Many self-report pain scales are available to assess the intensity of pain reported by children. There is hardly any research to compare their validity in Sri Lankan children. Objective: To compare 3 self-report pain scales viz. FACES Pain Scale (FPS), Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NRS) and Verbal Pain Rating Scale (VRS). Method: The study population comprised children 4-12 years old who presented to the paediatric ward and clinic of Ampara General Hospital with a complaint of pain from July 2012 to June 2013. Each child graded the pain intensity on the three pain scales introduced in random order by a trained investigator and rated the most easily understood scale. The investigator was asked to rate the most easily explainable scale in the individual case. The scales were ranked according to internal consistency, child preference and investigator preference. Results: There were 152 children aged between 4-12 years who presented to the paediatric ward and clinic of Ampara General Hospital with a complaint of pain during the study period. The correlations between FPS/NRS, FPS/VRS and NRS/VRS were 0.82, 0.73 and 0.73 respectively, all with p Conclusions: The reliability of all three pain scales in terms of correlation and internal consistency is moderate to high in Sri Lankan children. The FPS is recommended since it is easily understood by children and because of its easy administration and favourable internal consistency. Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health , 2017; 46 (1): 23-28
Highlights
Acute pain is one of the most common adverse stimuli experienced by children, occurring as a result of injury, illness, and medical procedures
The FACES Pain Rating Scale (FPS) is recommended since it is understood by children and because of its easy administration and favourable internal consistency
As shown in table-1, the three pain scales FPS, Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NRS) and Verbal Pain Rating Scale (VRS) were very positively correlated among each other (r > 0.7276 in all cases)
Summary
Acute pain is one of the most common adverse stimuli experienced by children, occurring as a result of injury, illness, and medical procedures. It is associated with increased anxiety, avoidance, somatic symptoms, and increased parental distress. Numerous pain scales are currently available to measure pain in children. Pain management is improved when pain is regularly and reliably measured .There is a need to assess how the children perceive pain by using various type of pain scales in the Sri Lankan clinical setting. It will be useful to know which pain assessment scale is appropriate for Sri Lankan children. Many self-report pain scales are available to assess the intensity of pain reported by children. There is hardly any research to compare their validity in Sri Lankan children
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