Perception Regarding Pain Management in Hospitalised Children: A Cross-Sectional Study among Children and Their Parents

Objectives During hospitalisation, children and their families are affected by the disturbing kind and degree of pain. Reducing pain and raising the standard of care depend heavily on effective pain management. It is also important to know how the children and their parents perceive pain management strategies adopted in the hospital. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the perception of children and parents towards pain management during hospitalisation. Material and Methods The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey design. The study was conducted in Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. Non-probability purposive sampling was employed to choose 108 children admitted to the pediatric unit at a particular hospital and their parents. Perception of pain management was assessed by a five-point Likert scale. Descriptive data were analysed using frequency and percentage. Karl Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to find the correlation between the perceptions of children and parents. Chi-square test was used to find the association of perception with demographic variables. Results The study found that 58.3% of children were in the age group of 11–15 years, with 61.1% being males. Most children (59.3%) were studying in class 4–7, the majority (70.6%) were admitted with fractures majority (56.5%) had undergone intravenous cannulation as a painful procedure. Regarding parents, 47.2% were in the age group of 36–40 years, and 77.8% were mothers. All the study participants had a positive perception of pain management. A significant positive correlation (r = 0.75) was found between the perception scores of children and parents. Conclusion This study highlights a potential divergence in the perception of pain management between children and their parents within the selected hospital settings. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating both child and parent perspectives in the development and implementation of effective pediatric pain management strategies.