School Functioning and Chronic Pain: A Review of Methods and Measures

Objective School functioning is among the most important life domains impacted by chronic pain. This review provides a summary of the measures currently used by researchers to assess school functioning in children with chronic pain. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the literature on school absen-teeism and school functioning in children and adolescents with pain. Searches were restricted to a time frame including January 1985 to December 2010. Results Fifty-three articles are reviewed: all include some form of assessment of school absenteeism or school functioning as part of the study outcome mea-sures. Of the 53 articles, 26 assessed school absenteeism and 27 assessed an aspect of school functioning; 14 of these 27 articles assessed both. Conclusions Understanding the comprehensive impact of pain on school functioning will require improvements in our current assessment methods. Key words academic functioning; chronic and recurrent pain; school functioning