Coping with pain and surgery: Children’s and parents’ perspectives

This article examines relations between coping with general and postoperative pain, children’s and parents’ coping ratings, and the contribution of temperament and coping to postoperative adjustment. Before and after day surgery, 7- to 12-year-olds (n = 124) rated their coping with pain. Parents rated their child’s coping and temperament. Pain and distress were rated on the day of and 2 days following surgery. Coping with general and postoperative pain were moderately correlated (medianr = .48). Except for distraction, all types of coping strategies were used more frequently for general than postoperative pain. Correlations between child and parent coping ratings were moderate (medianr = .36). After controlling for emotionality and medications, lower levels of emotion-focused avoidance and higher levels of distraction were related to lower pain and distress. After controlling for a priori surgical group (no-low pain; moderate-high pain), emotionality, and medications, lower levels of emotion-focused avoidance were related to lower pain and distress but distraction was no longer significant in a number of the regressions. Coping with pain has trail-like qualities but differences in the nature and context of pain create differences in strategy use. Level of pain appears to influence the type of coping strategies used. Interventions should target children’s use of distraction and minimize use of emotion-focused avoidance.