A cross-sectional study of venipuncture pain and anxiety was conducted with 180 consecutively referred children and their parents. Analysis indicated that younger children report more venipuncture pain than older children. Anxiety was related to both age and pain. As well, anxiety was lowest among children with no previous venipuncture experience and among those with the greatest experience.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BrownJ.O'KeeffeJ.SandersS.BakerB. (1986) Developmental changes in children's cognition to stressful and painful situations. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 11, 343–357.
2.
GaffneyA.DunneE. (1986) Developmental aspects of children's definitions of pain. Pain, 26, 105–117.
3.
HaslamD. (1969) Age and the perception of pain. Psychonomic Science, 15, 86–87.
4.
JayS.OzolinsM.ElliottC.CaldwellS. (1983) Assessment of children's distress during painful medication procedures. Health Psychology, 2, 133–147.
5.
KatzE.KellermanJ.SiegelS. (1980) Distress behavior in children with cancer undergoing medical procedures: Developmental considerations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 356–365.
6.
McGrathP. A.DeVeberL.HearnM. (1985) Multidimensional pain assessment in children. In FieldsH.DubnerR.CerveroF. (Eds.), Advances in pain research and therapy. New York: Raven. Pp. 387–402.
7.
RiesslandN. (1983) Cognitive maturity and the experience of fear and pain in hospital. Social Science and Medicine, 17, 1389–1395.
