Agreement between child self-report and parent-proxy report for functioning in pediatric chronic pain.

Abstract

Purpose: Accurate assessment of chronic pain and functional disability in children and adolescents is imperative for guiding pain management interventions. Parents have multifaceted roles in their child's pain experience and frequently provide parent-proxy reports of pain-related functioning. However, cross-informant variance is often observed with limited understanding of contributing factors. This study aims to examine the degree of alignment between child and parent-proxy reports for Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) pain interference domain among children with chronic pain and to identify factors associated with improved child-parent agreement.

Methods: This study includes a sample of 127 youth (66.1% female) with mixed etiology chronic pain, ranging in age from 8 to 17 (M = 12.24; SD = 1.598), and their parent. Data was collected at an interdisciplinary pediatric pain clinic and online peer support groups. Measures of demographic, pain intensity, and functioning were collected.

Results: Means of parent-proxy reports were significantly lower than child self-reports on the PROMIS (p < 0.05). A statistically significant association between child's pain intensity (β = 0.953, P < 0.05) and the difference between child self-reported and parent-proxy reported PROMIS functional interference scores was found.

Conclusion: Parents underestimated pain-related functional disability relative to children's self-reports. The difference between the paired child self-report and parent-proxy report of functional disability was significantly associated with greater child self-reported pain intensity. Although parent-proxy reports in pediatric chronic pain is often used in research and practice, findings underscore the importance of incorporating child and adolescent self-report, when possible, to comprehensively capture the child's pain experience and best inform clinical interventions.