| Wednesday, July 13, 2005: 3:00 PM-4:30 PM | |||
| A Systematic Review of the Reliability and Validity of the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale | |||
| Learning Objective #1: Discuss issues related to the use of the FACES Pain Rating Scale for pain assessment in children | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Examine the evidence of reliability and validity of the FACES Pain Rating Scale for pain assessment in children | |||
| During the past two decades, numerous pain assessment scales have been developed specifically for children. These instruments rely on the same principle to measure pain – the use of a series of symbols to represent pain intensity along a continuum from no pain to worst possible pain. These symbols include numbers, words, chips, colors, length of lines, and facial expressions. For most children, self-report with a pain scale is possible as early as 3 years of age. The only available instruments conceptually appropriate for this group use facial expressions of no distress to extreme distress. The most widely used tool is the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale, which consists of six line drawings of facial expression from very happy and smiling to sad and crying. Despite the strong research evidence for preference of the FACES scale over other pain scales and its popularity in the clinical setting, negative comments about the psychometric properties of the FACES scale in particular and facial scales in general have appeared in reviews of pain measurement instruments for children. The purpose of this focused discussion group is to examine the reliability and validity of the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale and discuss issues (including cultural), challenges, and strategies related to the assessment of pain in young children. | |||
| Organizer: | Kristie S. Nix, EdD, RN | ||
| Authors: | Kristie S. Nix, EdD, RN Eufemia Jacob, PhD, RN | ||