Behavioral pain indicators for adults with an intellectual disability: a scoping review protocol.

Objective: This scoping review aims to identify and map the behavioral pain indicators observed when adults with an intellectual disability experience pain.

Introduction: Adults with an intellectual disability have more health problems than the general population. The likelihood that this population will experience pain is high, but intellectual disability can obstruct the verbal expression of pain. Adults with an intellectual disability express pain via behavioral pain indicators; however, because no behavioral pain scale exists for this population, observers may misinterpret the pain experienced by adults with an intellectual disability.

Inclusion Criteria: The review will examine literature about behavioral pain indicators for adults with any type of intellectual disability who are suffering from any type of pain in any country or care setting.

Methods: The review will be conducted according to the JBI recommendations for scoping reviews. A preliminary search focusing on the concepts of intellectual disability and pain measurement was conducted for PubMed and CINAHL in March 2022. Once the protocol is validated, searches will also be carried out in Embase, JBI EBP Database, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, ERIC, Google Scholar, MedNar, and the websites of relevant professional associations. Titles and abstracts, and then full-text studies, will be selected independently by 2 researchers and assessed against the inclusion criteria. Relevant information will be imported into a data chart. Any behavioral pain indicators identified will be classified into 14 behavioral categories.

Review Registration Number: Open Science Framework osf.io/8xckf.