Pain research & management : the journal of the Canadian Pain Society = journal de la société canadienne pour le traitement de la douleur
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The relationship between pain and motor function is not well understood, especially for children and adolescents with communication and motor impairments associated with cerebral palsy (CP). ⋯ Children with CP with greater motor involvement, as indexed by GMFCS level, may be at risk for increased pain (intensity, frequency and duration) that interfers with activities of daily living. The clinical index of suspicion should be raised accordingly when evaluating children with developmental disability who cannot self-report reliably.
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For patients with surgical third molar removal, it is unknown what constitutes a clinically important change in patients' visual analogue scale (VAS) reports of pain intensity. ⋯ Relative pain reduction of ≥50% and an absolute pain reduction of ≥2.5 cm on the VAS were most accurate in predicting a successful pain reduction after a given treatment.
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Chronic pain negatively affects an adolescent's life; however, little is known about the social impact of chronic pain for adolescents. More is known about the general peer relationships of adolescents with chronic pain than their close friendships. Close friendships begin to take on more importance during adolescence as these relationships facilitate the development of an adolescent's sense of personal identity and increasing independence from family influences. Thus, chronic pain may create friendship challenges for adolescents beyond those typically experienced during this developmental trajectory, which may negatively impact their abilities to secure social support. ⋯ The impact of chronic pain on the adolescent as an individual as well as the responses of close friends and others within their social network resulted in the development of new friendship needs. However, the adolescents were not always able to secure these new friendship needs. Their experiences suggest factors within friendships that may be ameliorated by interventions, thus maintaining and strengthening their close friendships.
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Inadequacies in pain assessment and management in long-term care have been well documented. Insufficient pain education and inaccurate beliefs about the nature of pain and aging have been identified as possible contributors. The present study addresses the need for improved, efficient and feasible continuing pain education through the use of an assessment training video. ⋯ The present study provides support for the use of video training. However, based on the focus group results, top-down implementation approaches with ongoing management involvement throughout the implementation process may be needed to achieve sustained changes in pain assessment practices. A model useful for sustained implementation was proposed and discussed, and is hoped to facilitate future research.
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To investigate the occurrence of spirometry-related pain and distress in adolescents and young adults with cystic fibrosis (CF), and to investigate the role of acceptance of illness in spirometry-related pain and distress. ⋯ The present study suggests that a non-negligible number of adolescents and young adults with CF experience pain and distress during spirometry. Furthermore, results indicate that acceptance may play a protective role in the more indirect consequences of CF such as expected pain and pain-related thoughts during medical procedures. Acceptance, however, was not related to distress before and during spirometry, nor to experienced pain. These findings contribute to the increasing evidence that acceptance may play a protective role in managing the consequences of living with CF.