Harnessing children’s picture books to socialize children about pain and injury: a qualitative study

Sarah B. Wallwork, Sue Nichols, Abbie Jordan, Melanie Noel, Victoria J. Madden, G. Lorimer Moseley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Pain experiences are common during childhood (eg, “everyday” pain, vaccine injections) and are powerful opportunities for children to learn about pain and injury. These experiences likely inform fundamental and life-long beliefs about pain. There is scant research investigating the sociocultural contexts in which children learn about pain and injury. One unexplored context is the shared reading of picture books (eg, between parents/caregivers and children). In this study, we investigated whether shared reading of picture books that included depictions of pain and/or injury prompted parent/caregiver-child interactions. If interactions were observed, we explored what those interactions entailed. Twenty parents/caregivers (8 men, 12 women) and their children (n = 27; 10 boys, 17 girls) were recruited from libraries in South Australia. Parent/caregiver-child families chose from 8 books (7 fiction, 1 nonfiction) with varying amounts of pain/injury-related content. Shared reading interactions were video recorded, transcribed, and analyzed alongside analysis of the picture books using reflexive thematic analysis. Pain/injury-related interactions were observed between parents/caregivers and children during shared reading of picture books. Qualitative analyses generated 1 main theme and 3 subthemes. Findings identified that shared reading presented an opportunity for children's understanding of pain and injury to be socialized through discussion of characters’ experiences. This included teaching children about pain and injury, as well as promoting empathy and emotional attunement toward characters who were depicted as being in pain. Finally, parents/caregivers often responded with observable/expressed amusement if pain/injury was depicted in a light-hearted or unrealistic way. Overall, shared reading of picture books presents an untapped opportunity to socialize children about pain and injury. Perspective: Shared reading of picture books that have depictions of pain and/or injury can prompt parent/caregiver-child interactions about pain and injury. These interactions present critical opportunities that can be harnessed to promote children's learning of adaptive pain-related concepts and behaviors during a critical developmental period.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104520
JournalJournal of Pain
Volume25
Issue number8
Early online date2 Apr 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Aug 2024

Funding

SBW and GLM were supported by an NHMRC Investigator Grant awarded to GL Moseley ID ID1178444. SBW was supported by an Australian Pain Society Cops for Kids Clinical Research Grant and by a Post-doctoral Research Fellowship from the University of South Australia. VJM was supported by the US National Institutes of Health on grant K43 TW011442.

FundersFunder number
University of South Australia
National Health and Medical Research CouncilID1178444
National Health and Medical Research Council
National Institutes of HealthK43 TW011442
National Institutes of Health

    Keywords

    • Pain education
    • pediatric pain
    • picture books
    • shared reading
    • thematic analysis

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Clinical Neurology
    • Neurology
    • Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

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