1. Parents' ability to perceive pain experienced by their child with Down syndrome.
- Author
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Hennequin M, Faulks D, and Allison PJ
- Abstract
AIMS: To investigate parents' ability to perceive pain experienced by their offspring with Down syndrome (DS). METHODS: Data were gathered by the use of the Oral Assessment in Down Syndrome Questionnaire in a cross-sectional survey design in France. A sample of parents of 204 children with DS and 161 of their siblings without DS was accrued. RESULTS: Parental reports of difficulty discerning if their child with DS was in pain did not change with age of the child, remaining at a prevalence of 28% to 32%. Reports of difficulty discerning where that child felt pain diminished with older age from 74% to 27%. The likelihood of parents reporting difficulty discerning if and where their child with DS had pain was greater than for a sibling without DS. However, reports of pain experience for the 2 groups were the same. Moreover, different functional and dysfunctional behavioral variables were found to be predictors of these 2 pain perception variables. CONCLUSION: Parental perception of pain is less discriminant for children with DS than for their siblings without DS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2003