Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 5-2020

Faculty Advisor(s)

Brooke Jenkins

Abstract

Positive affect has been shown to be associated with lower levels of postoperative pain, while negative affect is associated with higher levels of pain. More recent research asks if subscales of positive affect such as calm, well-being, and vigor could be related to pain experiences. Studies of postoperative pain in children relating to positive and negative affect are limited, with none examining the connection between positive affect subscales and negative affect subscales (anger, anxiety, and depression) and children’s pain. This study addresses that gap by uncovering the relationships between the aforementioned subscales to postoperative pain in children. This study was conducted at Children’s Hospital of Orange County with children (N=56) aged 2-12 who had elective surgery and completed daily diaries assessing pain and affect at home on days 1, 3, and 7 post-surgery. State affect was associated with reports of pain on the same day such that children experiencing higher levels of calm, well-being, and vigor on day 1 had lower levels of pain that same day (calm: r(56) = -0.49, p < .001, well-being: r(56) = -0.52, p < .001, and vigor: r(56) = -0.51, p < .001). This pattern held for same-day measurements on day 3 (calm: = r(49) = -0.36, p < .05., well-being: r(49) = -0.50, p < .01, and vigor: r(49) = -0.52, p < .01), but not for day 7 when only well-being was associated with pain (r(51) = -0.29, p < .05). Depression was the only subscale of negative affect that showed a positive association across all three follow-up assessments of pain (ps

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2020 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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