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It is often a challenge for a child to communicate their pain, and their possibilities to do so should be strengthened in healthcare settings. Digital self‐assessment provides a potential solution for person‐centered care in pain management and promotes child participation when a child is ill. A child's perception of pain assessment differs when it is assessed using digital or analog formats. As we move into the digital era, there is an urgent need to validate digital pain assessment tools, including the newly developed electronic Faces Thermometer Scale (eFTS). This study protocol describes three studies with the overall aim to evaluate psychometric properties of the eFTS for assessing pain in children 8–17 years of age. A multi‐site project design combining quantitative and qualitative methods will be used for three observational studies. Study 1: 100 Swedish‐speaking children will report the level of anticipated pain from vignettes describing painful situations in four levels of pain and a think‐aloud method will be used for data collection. Data will be analyzed with phenomenography as well as descriptive and comparative statistics. Study 2: 600 children aged 8–17 years at pediatric and dental settings in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and USA will be included. Children will assess their pain intensity due to medical or dental procedures, surgery, or acute pain using three different pain Scales for each time point; the eFTS, the Faces Pain Scale Revised, and the Coloured Analogue Scale. Descriptive and comparative statistics will be used, with subanalysis taking cultural context into consideration. Study 3: A subgroup of 20 children out of these 600 children will be purposely included in an interview to describe experiences of grading their own pain using the eFTS. Qualitative data will be analyzed with content analysis. Our pilot studies showed high level of adherence to the study procedure and rendered only a small revision of background questionnaires. Preliminary analysis indicated that the instruments are adequate to be used by children and that the analysis plan is feasible. A digital pain assessment tool contributes to an increase in pain assessment in pediatric care. The Medical Research Council framework for complex interventions in healthcare supports a thorough development of a new scale. By evaluating psychometric properties in several settings by both qualitative and quantitative methods, the eFTS will become a well‐validated tool to strengthen the child's voice within healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To illuminate adolescents' experiences of Help Overcoming Pain Early (HOPE), a person‐centred intervention delivered in a school setting by school nurses. Twenty‐one adolescents with chronic pain recruited from secondary school, who had completed the HOPE intervention, were included in the interview study. The HOPE intervention was built on person‐centred ethics and consisted of four meetings between school nurses and adolescents on the subject of stress and pain management. A qualitative method using content analysis with an inductive approach was employed. In the interviews, the adolescents describe how they reclaim their lives with the help of HOPE. They use different strategies and parts of the intervention to move on with their lives. A trustful relationship, as that with the school nurse, was essential to dare to change. The overarching theme summarizes in Becoming myself again and is built up by three sub‐themes: Trust a pillar for growth, Making sense of my life with pain, and Putting myself into the world again. A person‐centred intervention such as HOPE applied in a school context is promising for promoting confidence in adolescents with chronic pain. A trust‐building process emerged, in terms of both the adolescents' trust in the healthcare staff they meet and their confidence in their own ability to handle and influence their situation, which in the long term can promote trust in themselves as a person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document, titled "Theme 11 - Cognitive and Psychological Assessment and Support," is a research article published in the journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis & Frontotemporal Degeneration. It features a large number of authors from various institutions and countries. The article focuses on the assessment and support of cognitive and psychological aspects in individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal degeneration (FTD). It provides valuable insights into the cognitive and psychological challenges faced by individuals with these conditions and highlights the importance of comprehensive assessment and support in managing their care. [Extracted from the article]