The influence of child pain catastrophizing and parent behavior on health-related quality of life in pediatric sickle cell disease.

Background: Literature suggests that a child's appraisal of pain and parent responses to pain are critical in predicting health-related outcomes. In youth with sickle cell disease (SCD), few investigations have examined child pain catastrophizing, and even fewer have examined the role that parents play in responding to SCD pain within the family context. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between pain catastrophizing, parent response to child SCD pain, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Procedure: The sample (N = 100) included youth with SCD (ages 8-18) and their parent. Parents completed a demographic questionnaire and the Adult Responses to Child Pain Symptoms; youth completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory-SCD Module.

Results: Findings indicated that pain catastrophizing, parent minimization, and parent encouragement/monitoring significantly predicted HRQoL. Minimizing and encouragement/monitoring parent responses moderated the relationship between pain catastrophizing and HRQoL, such that parent minimizing weakened the relationship and parent encouragement/monitoring strengthened the relationship.

Conclusions: Paralleling pediatric chronic pain literature, findings suggest that pain catastrophizing predicts HRQoL in youth with SCD. However, findings from moderation analyses diverge from the chronic pain literature; data suggest that encouragement/monitoring responses strengthen the negative relationship between child pain catastrophizing and HRQoL. Child pain catastrophizing and parent response to SCD pain may be appropriate targets for clinical intervention to improve HRQoL. Future studies should strive to better understand parent responses to SCD pain.