Faces scales in paediatric pain assessment

Abstract

The landmark paper discussed in this chapter is a systematic review assessing the commonly used faces pain scales employed to aid children in the self-report of their pain intensity. The review provides a critical evaluation of the Faces Pain Scale, the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R), the Oucher pain scale, and the Wong–Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale (WBFPRS). The reviewers found that the psychometric properties of the FPS-R supported its superiority for use in research. Although they found that children, and many staff, expressed a preference for the WBFPRS, the reviewers had major concerns about this scale confounding pain intensity with affect. They also noted the paucity of research in younger children, and concluded that future research should not focus on developing more pain scales for paediatric use but on examining the appropriate application of existing scales in a wider range of clinical settings.