Effects of postoperative pain management educational interventions on the outcomes of parents and their children who underwent an inpatient elective surgery: A randomized controlled trial.

AIM: To examine the effects of a postoperative pain management educational intervention on the outcomes of parents and their children who underwent inpatient elective surgery. BACKGROUND: Equipping parents with knowledge and skills to manage their children's postoperative pains is essential. Very limited studies have examined the effects of educational interventions on parents' knowledge, attitudes and use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain relief methods. DESIGN: Three-group pre- and post-test randomized controlled trial. METHODS: Parent-child pairs (N = 152) were recruited from September 2013-January 2015 and randomly assigned to either the control group or one of the two intervention groups. Valid and reliable instruments and diary entries were used to collect data at the baseline, 6, 12 and 24 hr and 2 weeks after the surgery. IBM SPSS 23.0 was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Parents reported moderate levels of knowledge, attitudes, pain relief methods used and children's postoperative pain. Except for parents' knowledge, types and frequencies of non-pharmacological methods used, there were no statistically significant differences among the three groups in parents' attitudes on pain management and pain medication, their uses of pain relief strategies (questionnaire data), satisfaction with postoperative pain management and children's worst postoperative pain in 2 weeks after surgery. CONCLUSION: Education seemed effective in improving parents' knowledge and use of non-pharmacological methods, but not attitudes, satisfaction with pain management and children's postoperative pain. Future studies are needed to develop modern digitalized ways for educating and supporting parents to optimize their children's postoperative pain management. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study has been registered with BioMed Central Ltd. (Registration No.: ISRCTN24910957).

Structured interviews examining the burden, coping, self-efficacy, and quality of life among family caregivers of persons with dementia in Singapore.

Dementia is a global health issue and the effects on caregivers are substantial. The study aimed to examine the associations of burden, coping, self-efficacy with quality of life among family caregivers of persons with dementia in Singapore. Structured interviews were conducted in a convenience sample of 84 family caregivers caring and seeking clinical care for the persons with dementia in an outpatient clinic of a public hospital in Singapore. The outcome measures included the Family Burden Interview Schedule, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale - Brief Version. In general, significant correlations were observed between the quality of life scores with coping strategy and family burden scores, but not between the coping strategy and family burden scores. Compared to demographic factors such as caregiver age and household income, psychosocial factors including family burden, coping strategies, and self-efficacy demonstrated greater association with quality of life in the participants. However, the dynamics of these associations will change with an increasing population of persons with dementia, decreasing nuclear family size, and predicted changes in family living arrangements for the persons with dementia in future. As such, it necessitates continuous study examining the needs and concerns of family caregivers and the relevance of ongoing interventions specific to caregivers of persons with dementia.

A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of an educational intervention on outcomes of parents and their children undergoing inpatient elective surgery: study protocol.

AIM: To report a study protocol that tests the effectiveness of an educational intervention on outcomes of parents and their children who undergo inpatient elective surgery. BACKGROUND: Inadequate children's postoperative pain management remains a global problem. Parents are required to be involved in their child's pain assessment and management, yet they often lack relevant knowledge and skills. Education is an effective strategy for enhancing a person's knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. However, few studies have examined its effectiveness in parents and their children undergoing inpatient elective surgery. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial and embedded qualitative process evaluation. METHODS: One hundred and sixty-two pairs of participants (each comprised of one parent and his/her child undergoing inpatient elective surgery) will be recruited (protocol approved in January 2013). Participants will be randomized to either a Control group (routine care), an Intervention group 1 (routine care and an educational intervention with face-to-face teaching), or an Intervention group 2 (routine care and an educational intervention without face-to-face teaching). Outcome measures will include parents' knowledge, attitude and behaviour related to postoperative pain management; their child's postoperative pain; and parents' satisfaction with their child's pain management at baseline and around 6, 12 and 24 hours after the operation. DISCUSSION: A standardized educational intervention protocol and detailed study procedure have been developed in this study to improve parents' knowledge, attitude and behaviour related to postoperative pain management and reduce their child's postoperative pain.