Understanding how parents and children with developmental delays communicate pain
Dyadic parent-child influences on pain expression and proxy ratings in children with IDD
This project looks at how young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities show pain and how their parents understand and describe it.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Minnesota NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Minneapolis, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11121072 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
Children with intellectual and developmental disabilities often can't tell us when they hurt, so their parents become their voice. This project wants to learn more about how parents and children interact when a child is in pain, especially for children who have trouble speaking. We will observe parent-child pairs, where the child is between 1.5 and 5 years old and has a global developmental delay. By video recording them during a common medical procedure like a blood draw, we can see how children express pain and how parents react and rate that pain. This helps us understand the unique ways pain is communicated in these families.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are children aged 1.5 to 5 years old with a diagnosis of global developmental delay, along with their parents.
Not a fit: Patients who are able to verbally communicate their pain clearly or who do not have intellectual and developmental disabilities may not directly benefit from this specific research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to better ways for healthcare providers to understand and manage pain in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
How similar studies have performed: While general population studies exist, this project is novel in specifically investigating dyadic parent-child influences on pain assessment in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Where this research is happening
Minneapolis, United States
- University of Minnesota — Minneapolis, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Byiers, Breanne J — University of Minnesota
- Study coordinator: Byiers, Breanne J
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.