Psychological Approaches to Pediatric Pain Relief

This chapter details the evidence-based psychological interventions for pediatric procedural pain. At the outset, appropriate assessment of children’s medical anxiety and pain will be briefly discussed. Correlates of children’s pain will be presented to provide some context and nuances to consider when considering preparation and procedural intervention approaches. Subsequently, psychological approaches that focus on pre-procedure preparation are highlighted. Lastly, the focus will turn to the research base of psychological approaches to intervening during children’s medical procedural distress