Abstract
BackgroundPain in children and adolescents with cancer has been identified as an area where many healthcare professionals seek guidance. This protocol details a systematic review whose aim is to explore current knowledge regarding measurement instruments to assess pain (and pain-related distress) in children and adolescents with cancer. After completion of the review, the information will be used in the development of a clinical practice guideline.MethodsWe will search four electronic databases (MEDLINE via PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and HaPI). Additional relevant studies will be identified by reference checking and expert consultation. All citations will be screened independently by two reviewers in a three-step approach: first selection based on title, second selection based on abstract, third selection based on full-text. Studies in children and adolescents with cancer that aimed to evaluate the clinimetric properties of an existing pain measurement instrument or to develop a new pain measurement instrument and that include at least one relevant outcome (reliability, validity, responsiveness, interpretability, clinical utility) are eligible for inclusion. For all steps of evidence selection, a detailed list with eligibility criteria will be determined a priori. Data extraction and quality assessment of included studies (according to the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments, COSMIN criteria) will be conducted independently by two authors.DiscussionThis systematic review will provide an overview of the current literature regarding measurement instruments to assess pain in children and adolescents with cancer. This knowledge synthesis will be used to formulate recommendations for clinical practice. Also, by synthesizing existing evidence, knowledge gaps will be identified.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42017072879
Highlights
Pain in children and adolescents with cancer has been identified as an area where many healthcare professionals seek guidance
We will present a narrative synthesis discussing our findings. In this protocol, we describe our approach for a systematic review regarding measurement properties of instruments to assess pain and pain-related distress in children and adolescents with cancer
Children go through various developmental stages which lead to great variation in this population in terms of abilities in verbal communication, pain experience, and associative thinking, which will determine the appropriateness of individual instruments within specific age groups [20]
Summary
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement has been followed in the development of this systematic review protocol [12]. The COSMIN 4-point checklist scoring system will result in a score per included outcome for each study that can either be “excellent” (evidence that the methodological quality is adequate), “good” (assumed that the methodological quality is adequate, but relevant information is not reported), “fair” (doubtful whether the methodological quality is adequate), or “poor” (evidence that the methodological quality is not adequate) This serves the purpose of identifying the measurement tool with the strongest clinimetric properties. We will list all included measurement instruments and the identified information on purpose (self- or observer-report, type of pain), number of studies, population/age group, and per outcome COSMIN quality score (four-level). This will allow the reader to quickly identify the appropriate measurement instrument with the strongest clinimetric properties. We will present a narrative synthesis discussing our findings
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