Date Approved

2017

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department or School

Psychology

Committee Member

Catherine C. Peterson Ph.D., Chair

Committee Member

Alissa Huth-Bocks, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Heather Janisse, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kristin Kullgren, Ph.D.

Abstract

Pediatric chronic pain causes significant interference in daily functioning for children and their families. While parents and families have been examined in previous research, gaps exist in the current literature base, particularly related to accurate conceptualization and assessment of family functioning. The current study sought to develop a measure of family impact of pediatric pain and examine the effects that pain severity, functional disability, and parent and child psychosocial functioning have on family functioning. Results indicated parents of children with chronic pain appear to be impacted across several domains, with psychological distress in the child and parent being a significant predictor of parent functioning, above and beyond pain severity and functional disability. Though these findings provide contributions to the current literature, a thorough understanding of family impact is limited by a lack of validated assessments examining this construct within pediatric chronic pain populations. While still in the early stages of the development, the Family Impact of Pediatric Pain (FIPP), which was developed for the current study, attempts to fill several gaps that exist within the literature related to accurate conceptualization and assessment of family functioning in chronic pain populations.

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