Parental catastrophizing about their child's pain. The parent version of the Pai

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Pain. 2006 Apr 24

Parental catastrophizing about their child's pain. The parent version

of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS-P): A preliminary validation.

Goubert L, Eccleston C, Vervoort T, Jordan A, Crombez G.

Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent

University, Belgium; Research Institute for Psychology and Health,

The Netherlands.

Numerous studies have found evidence for the role of catastrophizing

about pain in adjustment to pain in both adults and children.

However, the social context influencing pain and pain behaviour has

been largely ignored. Especially in understanding the complexities of

childhood pain, family processes may be of major importance. In line

with the crucial role of pain catastrophizing in explaining

adjustment and disability in adults and children, this study

investigates the role of parental catastrophic thinking about their

child's pain in explaining child disability and parental distress. To

study parental catastrophizing, a parent version of the Pain

Catastrophizing Scale (PCS-P) was developed. An oblique three-factor

structure emerged to best fit the data in both a sample of parents of

schoolchildren (N=205) and in a sample of parents of children with

chronic pain (N=107). Moreover, this three-factor structure was found

to be invariant across both parent samples. Further, in the clinical

sample, parents' catastrophic thinking about their child's pain had a

significant contribution in explaining (a) childhood illness-related

parenting stress, parental depression and anxiety, and ( the

child's disability and school attendance, beyond the child's pain

intensity.