Patterns of Pediatric Pain Intensity

This was one of a series of studies to examine the validity of the Oucher, an instrument designed to measure children's self-reports of pain in-tensity. Ninety-five 3− to 12-year-old hospitalized children were included in one or more parts of this descriptive methodological study. Findings indicated that pain scores conformed to expected patterns before and after surgery. Moderate, positive relationships were revealed between pain intensity and the number of doses of analgesics given. Relationships between the Oucher and two other pain measures used were found to be strong and positive. Conclusions indicated that the results provided evidence to support the construct validity of this new instrument.