• Päivi M Kankkunen, Katri M Vehviläinen-Julkunen, Anna-Maija K Pietilä, and Pirjo M Halonen.
• Department of Nursing Science, University of Kuopio, P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. paivi.kankkunen@uku.fi
• Eur J Pain. 2003 Jan 1;7(3):203-11.

Background Of The StudyParents' perceptions of children's pain may have influence on how children's postoperative pain is alleviated at home after discharge from hospital.Purpose Of The StudyTo describe parents' perceptions of 1-6-year-old children's pain.MethodsMothers (N=201) and fathers (N=114) whose child had undergone a day surgery in 10 Finnish central hospitals between October 2000 and September 2001 filled in a questionnaire including statements of pain perceptions, a Visual Analogue Scale to assess children's pain intensity and Parents' Postoperative Pain Measure (PPPM) to measure children's pain behaviours.ResultsMost of the parents suggested that adults have the responsibility to alleviate child's pain and that alleviation of child's postoperative pain prevents the child's fears during future visits in child welfare clinic. However, majority of parents described that postoperative pain decreases every day or that pain is always a part of surgery. Differences in parents' perceptions were found by both parents' and children's background variables. Parents' perceptions of children's pain were related to children's pain intensity and pain behaviours after surgery.ConclusionsParents' perceptions of children's pain were related to children's pain after surgery at home. Adequate information of children's pain should be provided to the parents before discharge to promote children's pain alleviation at home. Special attention should be paid on parents' expectations of boys' higher pain tolerance.

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