Tara McGrath1, Samina Ali1,2, Nadia Dow1, Sarah Aziz3, Molly Pilarski4, Amy L Drendel5. 1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta. 2. Women and Children's Health Research Institute, Edmonton, Alberta. 3. Michael G. deGroote School of Medicine Waterloo Regional Campus, McMaster University, Kitchener, Ontario. 4. Ascension Medical Group, Woodruff, Wisconsin, USA. 5. Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Measures of satisfaction are essential to understanding patient experience, in general, and particularly with pain management. OBJECTIVES: (A) To identify the words children commonly use to communicate satisfaction, in general, and for pain management and (B) to determine if this vocabulary matches their caregivers. METHODS: A study of child-caregiver pairs seen at a paediatric emergency department (PED) from July to November 2014 was conducted. Children were interviewed using ten open-ended questions. Grounded theory was employed for data coding and analysis. Caregivers completed a written survey. RESULTS: A total of 105 child interviews were completed (n=53 females, mean age 9.91, SD 3.71, age range 4 to 16); 105 caregiver surveys were completed (n=80 females). Children (n=99) most commonly used 'good', 'better' and 'happy' to express satisfaction with pain management (27%, 21% and 22%, respectively), with PED care (31%, 14% and 33%) and in general (13%, 5% and 49%). Children (n=99) used the words 'sad', 'bad' and 'not good' to communicate dissatisfaction with pain management (21%, 7% and 11%, respectively) and with PED care (21%, 13% and 12%). Only 56% of children (55/99) were familiar with the word 'satisfaction'. Children's word choices were similar to their caregivers' word choices, 14% (14/99) of the time. CONCLUSION: Children use simpler words than their caregivers, including good, better and happy, when communicating satisfaction. A child's vocabulary is seldom the same as the vocabulary their caregiver uses, therefore caregiver vocabulary should not be used as a surrogate for paediatric patients. The word 'satisfaction' should be avoided, as most children lack understanding of the term.
BACKGROUND: Measures of satisfaction are essential to understanding patient experience, in general, and particularly with pain management. OBJECTIVES: (A) To identify the words children commonly use to communicate satisfaction, in general, and for pain management and (B) to determine if this vocabulary matches their caregivers. METHODS: A study of child-caregiver pairs seen at a paediatric emergency department (PED) from July to November 2014 was conducted. Children were interviewed using ten open-ended questions. Grounded theory was employed for data coding and analysis. Caregivers completed a written survey. RESULTS: A total of 105 child interviews were completed (n=53 females, mean age 9.91, SD 3.71, age range 4 to 16); 105 caregiver surveys were completed (n=80 females). Children (n=99) most commonly used 'good', 'better' and 'happy' to express satisfaction with pain management (27%, 21% and 22%, respectively), with PED care (31%, 14% and 33%) and in general (13%, 5% and 49%). Children (n=99) used the words 'sad', 'bad' and 'not good' to communicate dissatisfaction with pain management (21%, 7% and 11%, respectively) and with PED care (21%, 13% and 12%). Only 56% of children (55/99) were familiar with the word 'satisfaction'. Children's word choices were similar to their caregivers' word choices, 14% (14/99) of the time. CONCLUSION: Children use simpler words than their caregivers, including good, better and happy, when communicating satisfaction. A child's vocabulary is seldom the same as the vocabulary their caregiver uses, therefore caregiver vocabulary should not be used as a surrogate for paediatric patients. The word 'satisfaction' should be avoided, as most children lack understanding of the term.
Authors: Robert H Dworkin; Dennis C Turk; John T Farrar; Jennifer A Haythornthwaite; Mark P Jensen; Nathaniel P Katz; Robert D Kerns; Gerold Stucki; Robert R Allen; Nicholas Bellamy; Daniel B Carr; Julie Chandler; Penney Cowan; Raymond Dionne; Bradley S Galer; Sharon Hertz; Alejandro R Jadad; Lynn D Kramer; Donald C Manning; Susan Martin; Cynthia G McCormick; Michael P McDermott; Patrick McGrath; Steve Quessy; Bob A Rappaport; Wendye Robbins; James P Robinson; Margaret Rothman; Mike A Royal; Lee Simon; Joseph W Stauffer; Wendy Stein; Jane Tollett; Joachim Wernicke; James Witter Journal: Pain Date: 2005-01 Impact factor: 6.961
Authors: Patrick J McGrath; Gary A Walco; Dennis C Turk; Robert H Dworkin; Mark T Brown; Karina Davidson; Christopher Eccleston; G Allen Finley; Kenneth Goldschneider; Lynne Haverkos; Sharon H Hertz; Gustaf Ljungman; Tonya Palermo; Bob A Rappaport; Thomas Rhodes; Neil Schechter; Jane Scott; Navil Sethna; Ola K Svensson; Jennifer Stinson; Carl L von Baeyer; Lynn Walker; Steven Weisman; Richard E White; Anne Zajicek; Lonnie Zeltzer Journal: J Pain Date: 2008-06-17 Impact factor: 5.820