3.1 Parent leaflet
An obvious place to start in providing evidence-based care to a child and family is with the child’s parent, by enquiring from them how their child has dealt with pain in the past and using that information to manage a child’s pain.
We designed a leaflet to be used by parents if their child is in pain in hospital after surgery. The leaflet has space for a parent to record how their child usually responds to pain, what words they use for pain, as well as what usually helps when their child is in pain.
It also explains to parents what health care professionals find helpful to know about their child and how they respond to pain, therefore providing parents with insight as to how to link what they know about their child, with what health care professionals need to know, to help to provide individualised care.
The second page of the leaflet goes on to ask a parent to record how much pain their child is experiencing, and how satisfied they are with the pain care.
You can access the parent leaflet here: Helping your child with pain [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .
Activity 2: Parent leaflet
Read the parent leaflet: Helping your child with pain and answer the following questions in the text box below.
- What are the key messages being conveyed to parents?
- How would you introduce the leaflet to a parent to explain its purpose and encourage them to use it?
- List statements you would make?
- What use could you make of this leaflet in practice?