Parent Cardiac Response in the Context of Their Child's Completion of the Cold Pressor Task: A Pilot Study.

Kaytlin Constantin,C. McMurtry,Heidi Bailey,Rachel Moline

doi:10.3390/children4110100

Abstract

Parents’ ability to regulate their emotions is essential to providing supportive caregiving behaviours when their child is in pain. Extant research focuses on parent self-reported experience or observable behavioural responses. Physiological responding, such as heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), is critical to the experience and regulation of emotions and provides a complementary perspective on parent experience; yet, it is scarcely assessed. This pilot study examined parent (n = 25) cardiac response (HR, HRV) at rest (neutral film clip), immediately before the cold pressor task (pre-CPT), and following the CPT (post-CPT). Further, variables that may influence changes in HR and HRV in the context of pediatric pain were investigated, including (1) initial HRV, and (2) parent perception of their child’s typical response to needle procedures. Time-domain (root mean square of successive differences; RMSSD) and frequency-domain (high-frequency heart rate variability; HF-HRV) parameters of HRV were computed. HR and HF-HRV varied as a function of time block. Typical negative responses to needle pain related to higher parental HR and lower HRV at rest. Parents with higher HRV at baseline experienced the greatest decreases in HRV after the CPT. Consequently, considering previous experience with pain and resting HRV levels are relevant to understanding parent physiological responses before and after child pain.

Highlights

Pain is defined as a subjective “unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” [1] (p. 210)
Children frequently experience pain as a result of routine medical care, including immunizations and venipunctures [2]. These are commonly feared medical procedures, with 63% of young children and adolescents reporting a fear of needles, and 7% of parents and 8% of children reporting needle fear as a main reason for immunization non-compliance [3]
There was a significant effect of block on heart rate (HR) (F(2, 46) = 11.89, p < 0.001, partial η 2 = 0.34, 95% confidence of interval (CI) [0.17, 0.68]; see Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

Pain is defined as a subjective “unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” [1] (p. 210). Pain is defined as a subjective “unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” [1] Children frequently experience pain as a result of routine medical care, including immunizations and venipunctures [2]. These are commonly feared medical procedures, with 63% of young children and adolescents reporting a fear of needles, and 7% of parents and 8% of children reporting needle fear as a main reason for immunization non-compliance [3]. It follows that understanding the factors that affect children’s pain experience is necessary to reduce and prevent these short- and long-term consequences.

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion