Predictors of Caregiver Judgment Accuracy of Children's Pain During Venipuncture

Aim of Investigation: Previous research has shown low levels of agreement between parent and child reports of pain. The current research study investigated factors predicting the accuracy of caregivers' judgments of children's pain during blood draw procedures. Methods: A sample of 113 caregivers (68 female, 45 male) were asked to view 20, 10-second video clips of children (10 boys, 10 girls) between the ages of 5 and 10 years undergoing a blood draw, and then rated the child's pain intensity. Caregivers' ratings were compared to the child's self-reported ratings of pain intensity to determine the accuracy of their judgments. Caregivers also completed measures of parental pain catastrophizing (i.e., catastrophizing about their child's pain), dispositional empathy, and trait anxiety. Results: Consistent with previous studies, caregivers underestimated the children's pain significantly more often than they overestimated, or correctly rated the children's pain. The results demonstrated that parental pain catastrophizing significantly predicted caregiver underestimation of children's pain, and was significantly negatively correlated with caregiver underestimation. Conclusions: Parental pain catastrophizing predicted caregiver underestimation of children's pain during blood draw procedures, with caregivers reporting higher levels of parent pain catastrophizing being less likely to underestimate children's pain. Catastrophizing about children's pain may lessen caregivers' tendency to underestimate children's pain.