The Perception of Pain in the Experience of Childhood Cancer

Resumo (EN)

There is interest in pediatric cancer pain and its assessment, but it is less studied about cientific production in adults. The study aimed to evaluate how children/adolescents with cancer and family caregivers understood pain. The following instruments were used: sociodemographic and clinical indicators of pain and illness, the Faces Affective Scale (FAS), and the Multidimensional Pain Assessment Scale (EMADOR). Results: age distribution (05-07, 08-11 and 12-19 years old), prevalence for 12-19 years old (45%), female sex (53%), incomplete elementary school (95%) and Catholics (62%). Higher rates for chronic pain (51%) and leukemia (47%). In FAS, figures representing variation in the negative effect of pain were most indicated (71%). In EMADOR, the results by age group showed the descriptors characterized in acute pain about the affective and cognitive dimensions; however, the perception of chronic pain was understood following the life cycle reasoning, from concreteness in sensory descriptors to abstract understanding in affective descriptors. It was concluded that pain was thought of multidimensionally. EMADOR was considered an easy and reliable instrument for pain assessment in the development process, children from the age of 5 understood the painful phenomenon, and mothers, after their children,
are the ones who most understand their pain, bringing possibilities for better management of the phenomenon.