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The following is a summary of “It takes two: The relative contributions of parent versus child-led regulatory behaviours on toddler vaccination pain,” published in the November 2023 issue of Pain by Gennis et al.
While parental comfort is crucial for young children’s pain management, research on children’s coping strategies during vaccination remains limited.
Researchers started a retrospective study to assess the independent contributions of children’s self-regulation strategies to pain management beyond parental interventions and pre-needle anxiety.
They recorded toddler-caregiver dyads during 12- and/or 18-month vaccinations, coding videos for pain-related behavioral distress, child-led regulatory behaviors (disengagement of attention, parent-focused behaviors, and physical self-soothing), and parent regulatory/soothing behaviors (distraction, physical comfort, rocking, verbal reassurance). Pre-needle distress, followed by parent and child regulatory behaviors at 1 min and 2 min post-needle, served as hierarchical predictors of pain regulation.
The results showed that at both 12 and 18 months, regulation was lessened by child-led, parent-focused behaviors. Specifically, at 18 months, the regulatory influence was more pronounced for parent-soothing behaviors (such as distraction, verbal reassurance, and rocking); notably, rocking was the sole behavior linked to increased regulation.
Investigators concluded that toddlers relied on parents and self-soothing during vaccination. Only rocking emerged as a helpful parent behavior, highlighting a need for further research.