Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic Pain
How parents attribute cause to their child’s physical symptoms is likely important in understanding how the parent responds to the child, as well as the child’s health outcomes, especially within the context of chronic illness. Here, we adapt the Symptom Interpretation Questionna...
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2018-06-01
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doaj-9497f06a0c1848489e770a339fdcd6312021-04-02T04:24:12ZengMDPI AGChildren2227-90672018-06-01567610.3390/children5060076children5060076Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic PainLauren C. Heathcote0Sara E. Williams1Allison M. Smith2Christine B. Sieberg3Laura E. Simons4Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Stanford Medical School, Stanford, CA 94304, USADivision of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45229, USADepartments of Anesthesiology and Psychiatry, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USADepartments of Anesthesiology and Psychiatry, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USADepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Stanford Medical School, Stanford, CA 94304, USAHow parents attribute cause to their child’s physical symptoms is likely important in understanding how the parent responds to the child, as well as the child’s health outcomes, especially within the context of chronic illness. Here, we adapt the Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire for parent report (SIQ-PR) and provide preliminary validation in a sample of parents of children with chronic pain (N = 311). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the SIQ-PR structure is consistent with the original measure, with three distinct attribution types: psychological (emotional/affective), somatic (illness/disease), and environmental (situational/transient) causes. All three subscales demonstrated satisfactory to good internal consistency, and temporal stability. Parents typically endorsed more than one attribution for each symptom, indicating that parents of children with chronic pain have a multidimensional interpretation of physical symptoms in their children. Further, parent psychological and somatic attributions, but not environmental attributions, were significantly associated with (i) parent protective responses towards their child, and (ii) the child’s self-reported somatic and psychological symptoms, indicating convergent and divergent validity. The SIQ-PR may be a useful measure for future studies investigating intergenerational and interpersonal models of pediatric chronic pain, and more broadly, to examine parent attributions of children’s ambiguous symptoms within the context of childhood chronic illness.http://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/5/6/76symptom attributionSymptom Interpretation Questionnairesomatic symptomspediatric chronic painparentchild |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lauren C. Heathcote Sara E. Williams Allison M. Smith Christine B. Sieberg Laura E. Simons |
spellingShingle |
Lauren C. Heathcote Sara E. Williams Allison M. Smith Christine B. Sieberg Laura E. Simons Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic Pain Children symptom attribution Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire somatic symptoms pediatric chronic pain parent child |
author_facet |
Lauren C. Heathcote Sara E. Williams Allison M. Smith Christine B. Sieberg Laura E. Simons |
author_sort |
Lauren C. Heathcote |
title |
Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic Pain |
title_short |
Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic Pain |
title_full |
Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic Pain |
title_fullStr |
Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic Pain |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parent Attributions of Ambiguous Symptoms in Their Children: A Preliminary Measure Validation in Parents of Children with Chronic Pain |
title_sort |
parent attributions of ambiguous symptoms in their children: a preliminary measure validation in parents of children with chronic pain |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Children |
issn |
2227-9067 |
publishDate |
2018-06-01 |
description |
How parents attribute cause to their child’s physical symptoms is likely important in understanding how the parent responds to the child, as well as the child’s health outcomes, especially within the context of chronic illness. Here, we adapt the Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire for parent report (SIQ-PR) and provide preliminary validation in a sample of parents of children with chronic pain (N = 311). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the SIQ-PR structure is consistent with the original measure, with three distinct attribution types: psychological (emotional/affective), somatic (illness/disease), and environmental (situational/transient) causes. All three subscales demonstrated satisfactory to good internal consistency, and temporal stability. Parents typically endorsed more than one attribution for each symptom, indicating that parents of children with chronic pain have a multidimensional interpretation of physical symptoms in their children. Further, parent psychological and somatic attributions, but not environmental attributions, were significantly associated with (i) parent protective responses towards their child, and (ii) the child’s self-reported somatic and psychological symptoms, indicating convergent and divergent validity. The SIQ-PR may be a useful measure for future studies investigating intergenerational and interpersonal models of pediatric chronic pain, and more broadly, to examine parent attributions of children’s ambiguous symptoms within the context of childhood chronic illness. |
topic |
symptom attribution Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire somatic symptoms pediatric chronic pain parent child |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/5/6/76 |
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