Exploring the Impact of Cultural Background on Parental Perceptions of Children's Pain

To examine the relation between ethnic background and parent perceptions of children's pain expression, a study of 215 parents of children aged 1 month to 17 years undergoing outpatient surgery was conducted. Parents were grouped into 3 categories by ethnicity and language spoken: Spanish-speaking Hispanic, English-speaking Hispanic, and English-speaking White. Parental attitudes were assessed by the Parental Pain Expression Perceptions questionnaire. After controlling for demographic variables, Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents noted greater misconceptions of children's pain expression than English-speaking White parents. Post hoc analyses indicated that Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents also reported greater misconceptions of children's pain expression than their English-speaking Hispanic counterparts. Findings suggest that Spanish-speaking Hispanic parents endorse misconceptions about children's expression of pain to a greater degree than English-speaking parents and, as such, more emphasis should be placed on parent education within the context of cultural background.