The importance of cognitive development in children's understanding of health-related concepts (e.g., illness, medical personnel) has been demonstrated. Such a developmental progression, however, has not been investigated with regard to children's conceptualization of pain, despite implications found in both the research literature and clinical lore concerning the importance of developmental issues in the experience of pain for children. / Seventy-nine healthy children attending pre-school through eighth grade, and 36 children from a medical pain population participated in an interview to determine their Piagetian stage of cognitive development, conceptualization of the definition, cause, and treatment of pain, and locus of control orientation. Pain understanding was assessed with a questionnaire developed for this study which demonstrated high interrater reliability and internal consistency. / Cognitive developmental groups differed in level of pain understanding, with a significant progression in children's understanding of the concept of pain as they proceed through each stage of cognitive development. No significant effect on pain understanding was found for either diagnosis or gender. Although previous pain experience contributed to the prediction of pain understanding, neither previous experience nor locus of control significantly impacted on children's understanding of pain. The role of cognitive development, locus of control, and prior pain experience on pain understanding is discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-10, Section: B, page: 4293. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75950 |
| Contributors | BERRY, SHARON LEE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 132 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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