Parents’ identification of pain and use of analgesics during their infants’ pain management at home and the role of AI-enabled digital solutions: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: How parents manage pain and use analgesics at home remains unclear, including whether AI-enabled solutions may offer additional support. OBJECTIVE: Explore parents' experiences with infants' pain management and the role of AI-enabled digital solutions. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews with parents attending community pharmacies to obtain analgesics to manage infants' pain were carried out. PainChek Infant, an AI-enabled pain assessment tool, was demonstrated to parents to explore the role of digital solutions. A thematic analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Thirty parents of infants aged 2-12 months participated. Several key themes and subthemes were identified that described parents' experience and perceived challenges with pain management at home. Infant-related factors included lack of self-report and analgesic administration difficulties. Parents' use of analgesics was characterized by practices of underdosing, self-medication, and a tendency to avoid their use. Parents did not report using pain assessment instruments at home but had positive attitudes towards adoption of a demonstrated AI-enabled solution like PainChek Infant with practicality and its rapid and easy use being important enablers. Perceived adoption barriers were also identified. CONCLUSION: Parents face multiple difficulties with infants' pain management at home, both with pain identification and use of analgesics. Based on findings from a demonstrated AI-enabled tool, these solutions may offer additional support in pain assessment and monitoring at home.