Annina Riggenbach1, Rémy Amouroux1
1) Switzerland
Background: As of yet, little attention has been given to developmental aspects of adolescents who suffer from chronic pain. Those aspects are strongly related to family factors, which influence functional outcomes. The present study investigates the relation between adolescents’ and parents’ fear of pain and adolescents’ feelings of being supported in their need of autonomy.
Methods: Mixed methodology is used in this research. One hundred adolescent patients referred to pain centers in Switzerland completed measures of autonomy support, fear of pain and functional disability. At least one parent of each adolescent completed the parent versions of the above questionnaires. Twenty of these adolescents participated in semi-structured interviews, where the management of developmental tasks was discussed. Those adolescents also participated in a video task with one of their parents. The interviews were analyzed following interpretative phenomenological analysis. Videos were coded following an interactive code design.
Results The results of the interviews and videos underscore how ressources and difficulties in managing pain belong together with developmental aspects. As expected, our first results show that being supported in his own values and norms help the adolescent and his family to manage the pain.
Conclusion: The developmental tasks influence and are influenced by the pain and impact functional outcomes. The meeting of developmental theories and the usual models in pain highlight the importance of considering specific tasks, as adolescents with chronic pain remain adolescents.
