Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-19-2018
Abstract
Background
Children with cancer routinely undergo painful medical procedures invoking strong physiological stress responses. Resilience to this pain may be conferred through resources such as emotion regulation strategies and positive affect.
Procedure
This study measured dispositional positive affect in children with cancer (N = 73) and randomly assigned participants to one of three emotion regulation strategy conditions (distraction, reappraisal, or reassurance). Children applied their assigned strategy during an experimental pain procedure (the cold pressor task [CPT]) and provided saliva samples before, immediately after, and 15 min after the CPT. Saliva samples were later assayed for salivary alpha amylase (sAA)—a surrogate marker for autonomic/sympathetic nervous system activity and regulation.
Results
Children in the reassurance group had sAA levels that continued to rise after completion of the CPT compared to children in the distraction (b = –1.68, P = 0.021) and reappraisal conditions (b = –1.24, P = 0.084). Furthermore, dispositional positive affect moderated the effect of condition such that children in the reassurance group with lower levels of positive affect had sAA levels that continued to rise after completion of the CPT (dy/dx = 1.56, P = 0.027), whereas children in the reassurance condition with higher levels of positive affect did not exhibit this rise (P > 0.05).
Conclusions
Specific emotion regulation strategies, such as distraction and reappraisal, may attenuate the stress response to pain in pediatric patients with cancer, and positive affect may confer resilience in response to pain even with use of less effective coping strategies such as reassurance.
Recommended Citation
Jenkins, B. N., Granger, D. A., Roemer, R. J., Martinez, A., Torres, T. K., & Fortier, M. A. (2018). Emotion regulation and positive affect in the context of salivary alpha-amylase response to pain in children with cancer. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 65(6), e26973. doi:10.1002/pbc.26973
Copyright
Wiley
Included in
Child Psychology Commons, Health Psychology Commons, Oncology Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Pain Management Commons, Pediatrics Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons
Comments
This is the accepted version of the following article:
Jenkins, B. N., Granger, D. A., Roemer, R. J., Martinez, A., Torres, T. K., & Fortier, M. A. (2018). Emotion regulation and positive affect in the context of salivary alpha-amylase response to pain in children with cancer. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 65(6), e26973. doi:10.1002/pbc.26973
which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1002/pbc.26973. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.