A GROUP FOR PARENTS OF YOUTH WITH CHRONIC PAIN: RATIONALE, STRUCTURE, CONTENT, AND PRELIMINARY OUTCOME DATA

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Parenting a youth with chronic pain can be challenging and have a significant impact relationally, emotionally and financially on caregivers (Palermo, 2000 Lewandowski et al., 2010). There is a growing literature indicating that parent emotions (e.g., anxiety, depression), cognitions (e.g., coping, pain catastrophizing), and behaviours (e.g., attending to pain symptoms) can moderate a child's adjustment to chronic pain (Logan & Scharff, 2005 Palermo et al., 2014 Palermo & Eccleston, 2008). Therefore, intervening with parents of youth with chronic pain is believed to foster better outcomes regarding children's functioning (e.g., school attendance Coakley & Wihak, 2017). OBJECTIVES: No study has evaluated a stand-alone intervention targeted at parents of youth with chronic pain. Consequently, this poster presents a five week parenting group that we developed and ran on four occasions. Preliminary results pertaining to group feasability, satisfaction, and effectiveness will also be presented. DESIGN/METHODS: The group is designed to augment the treatment of youth in our program and includes the following topics: chronic pain 101 (psychoeducation), impact of pain on the family, self-care, tools for managing a child's pain, identifying and overcoming barriers, school partnerships, and celebrating successes. Each session involves homework review, a mindfulness activity, new material (inclusive of a didactic activity), goal-setting, and assigned readings. To date, 41 parents of youth with chronic pain have participated in the four group cycles. Outcomes were measured using the Adult Responses to Children's Symptoms (ARCS) Questionnaire (Noel et al., 2015 Van Slyke & Walker, 2006) which parents completed at the start and end of the group. Feedback and parent satisfaction were also obtained on a feedback form designed by authors and given on the last session of group. RESULTS: Overall, the group demonstrated adequate feasibility, was well-received by parents, and high satisfaction was reported. Preliminary data suggest that the group was helpful in reducing some parental responses associated with maladaptive child outcomes. More specifically, statistically significant decreases in protectiveness, monitoring, and minimizing (subscales of the ARCS) were found after the 5 week intervention. CONCLUSION: “Anecdotally, many parents expressed uncertainty about how to respond when adolescents complained of pain and refused to go to school, and parents appeared eager forstrategies to help them negotiate the situation” (Logan & Simons, 2010, p. 833). Our results are consistent with previous literature (Logan & Simons, 2010 Saunders et al., 1994) and suggest that intervening with parents may help improve outcomes for youth with chronic pain.