Abrstract
This study was designed to examine whether brief training in cognitive coping skills would enhance pain coping strategies and alter pain perception in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD). Forty-nine participants with SCD were randomly assigned to either a cognitive coping skills condition or a standard care control condition. At pre- and posttesting, coping strategies and pain sensitivity using laboratory pain stimulation were measured. Results indicated that, in comparison to the randomly assigned control condition, brief training in cognitive coping skills resulted in decreased negative thinking and lower pain ratings during low intensity laboratory pain stimulation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Avia, M. D., & Kanfer, F. H. (1980). Coping wilh aversive stimulation: The effects of training in self-management context.Cognitive Therapy and Research, 4, 73–81
Chapman, C. R. (1977). Sensory decision theory measurement of pain: A reply to Rollman.Pain, 3, 295–305.
Chapman, C. R., & Loeser, J. D. (1989).Advances in pain research and therapy. New York: Raven.
Charache, S., Lubin, B., & Reid, C. D. (1994).Management and therapy of sickle cell disease (NIH Publication No. 94-2117. (pp. 1–50). Washington, DC: National Institutes of Health.
Clark, W. C. (1987). Pain measurement by signal detection theory, In G. Adclman (Ed.),Encyclopedia of neuroscience (pp. 911–913). Boston: Birkhauser.
Clark, W. C. (1994). The ‘psyche’ in the psychophysics of pain: An introduction to sensory decision theory. In J. Boivic, P. Hansson, & U. Lindhlom (Eds.),Touch, temperature, and pain in health and disease: Mechanisms and assessment. Progress in pain research and management (Vol. 3. pp. 41–62) Seattle: International Association for the Study of Pain.
Cozzi, L., Trvon, W. W., & Sedlacek, K. (1987). The effectiveness of biofeedback-assisted relaxation in modifying sickle cell crises.Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, 12, 51–61.
Edens, J. L., & Gil, K. M. (1995). Experimental induction of pain: Utility in the study of clinical pain.Behavior Therapy, 26, 197–216.
Fanurik, D., Zeltzer, L. K., Roberts, M. C., & Blount, R. L. (1993). The relationship between children’s coping styles and psychological interventions for cold pressor pain,Pain, 53, 213–222.
Forgione, A. G., & Barber, T. X. (1971). A strain gauge pain stimulator,Psychophysiology, 8, 102–106.
Gil, K. M., Abrains, M. R., Phillips, G., & Keefe, F. J. (1989). Sickle cell disease pain: Relation of coping strategies to adjustment.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 725–731.
Gil, K. M., Edens, J. L., Wilson, J. J., Rawer, L. B. Kinney, T. R., Schultz, W. H., & Daeschner, C. (1997). Coping strategies and laboratory pain in children with sickle cell disease.Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 19, 22–29.
Gil, K. M., Phillips, G., Webster, D. A., Martin, N. J., Abrams, M., Grant, M., Clark, W. C., & Janal, M. N. (1995). Experimental pain sensitivity and reports of negative thoughts in adults with sickle cell disease.Behavior Therapy, 26, 273–294.
Gil, K. M., Thompson, R. J., Keith, B. R., Tota-Faucette, M., Noll, S., & Kinney, T. R. (1993). Sickle cell disease pain in children and adolescents: Change in pain frequency and coping strategies over time.Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 18, 621–637.
Gil, K. M., Williams, D. A., Thompson, R. J., & Kinney, T. R. (1991). Sickle cell disease in children and adolescents: The relation of child and parent pain coping strntegies to adjustment.Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 16, 643–663.
Gil, K. M., Wilson, J. J., Edens, J. L., Webster, D. A., Abrams, M. A., Orringer, E., Gram, M. M., Clark, W. C., & Janal, M. N. (1996). The effects of cognitive coping skills training on coping strategies and experimental pain sensitivity in African American adults with sickle cell disease.Health Psychology, 15, 3–10.
Gracely, R.H.(1989). Pain psychophysics. In C. R. Chapman & J. D. Loeser (Eds.).Advances in pain research and therapy (Vol. 12. pp. 211–229). New York: Raven.
Jay, S. M., Elliott, C. H., Woody, P. D.,& Siegel, S. (1991). An investigation of cognitive-behavioral therapy combined with oral Valium for children undergoing painful medical procedures.Health Psychology, 10, 317–322.
LeBaron, S., Zeltzer, L., & Fanurik, D. (1989). An investigation of cold pressor pain in children (Part I)Pain, 37, 161–171.
McGrath, P. A. (1993). Inducing pain in children. A controversial issue.Pain, 52, 255–257
McNicol, D. (1972).A primer of signal detection theory. London: George Allen & Unwin.
Rollman, G. B. (1977). Signal detection theory measurement of pain: A review and critique.Pain, 3, 187–211.
Rosenstiel, A. K., & Keefe, F. J. (1983). The use of coping strategies in low back pain patients; Relationship to patient characteristics and current adjustment.Pain, 17, 33–40.
Sanders, M. R., Shepherd, R. W., Cleghom, G., & Woolford, H. (1994). The treatment of recurrent abdominal pain in children: A controlled comparison of cognitive-behavioral family intervention and standard pediatric care.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 306–314.
Shapiro, B S., & Ballas, S. K. (1994). The acute painful episode. In S. H. Emhury, R. P. Hebbel, N. Mohandas, & M. H. Sleinberg (Eds.),Sickle cell disease: Basic principles and clinical practice (pp. 531–543) New York: Raven.
Turk, D. C., Meichenbaum, D., & Genest, M. (1983).Pain and behavioral medicine: A cognitive-behavinral perspective. New York: Guilford.
Walco, G. A., Dampier, C. D., Hartststein, G., Djordjevic, D., & Miller, L (1990). The relationship between recurrent clinical pain and pain threshold in children. In D. C. Tyler & E. J. Krane (Eds.).Advances in pain research therapy (Vol. 15, pp. 333–340). New York: Raven.
Walco, G. A., Varni, J. W., & Llowite, N. T. (1992). Cognitive-behavioral pain management in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.Pediatrics, 89, 1075–1079.
Zeltzer, L., Dash, J., & Holland, J. P. (1979). Hypnotically induced pain control in sickle cell anemia.Pediutrics, 64, 533–536.
Zeltzer, L., Fanurik, D., & LeBaron, S. (1989). The cold pressor pain paradigm in children; Feasibility of an intervention model (Part II).Pain, 37, 305–313.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work was supported by Grant ROl HL46953-06, by Project VI.B.2 in the Duke University-University of Nunh Carolina Sickle Cell Center Grant in P60HL2839-13, and by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill GCRC Grant RR00046.
We thank the staff of Duke University-University of North Carolina Sickle Cell Center including Susan Jones, Thomas Kinney, Dell Slrayhorn, William Schultz, and Cynthia Brown. We also thank Laura Porter. Jodi Prochaska, Lauren Raezer, and Yolanda Van Horn for help with data collection and entry; David Johndrow for help with data analyses; and Crawford Clark and Malvin Janal for assistance with the sensory decision theory procedures and analyses.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gil, K.M., Wilson, J.J., Edens, J.L. et al. Cognitive coping skills training in children with sickle cell disease pain. Int. J. Behav. Med. 4, 364–377 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0404_7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm0404_7