Families and pain
The family has long been acknowledged as an important social context where children learn and receive support for experienced pain. When a child is in pain, the family is responsible for identifying pain and seeking appropriate evaluation and care. Families’ responses may inadvertently encourage or discourage the expression of pain and play a critical role in influencing children’s ability to cope with pain, both positively and negatively. Having a child in pain can pose significant personal, familial, and economic strains to parents, and parents’ health can impact pain and psychological symptoms in their offspring. Therefore, consideration of the family is critical in understanding children’s pain. This chapter describes relevant theoretical models and summarizes current major research themes regarding the role of the family in both acute and chronic pediatric pain. Two illustrative case examples and a parent perspective are provided and key areas for future research are identified.