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Project

Examining the phenomenology, impact and underlying mechanisms of child appraisals of injustice in the context of pain

Pain is a common experience in children and adolescents that is usually temporarily disabling.

However, a significant proportion of children/adolescents continue to experience substantial pain

and disability. Emerging evidence among adults suggests that appraisals of injustice, conceptualized

as cognitions comprising attributions of blame and irreparability of loss due to pain contribute to

adverse pain-related outcomes. Preliminary results among children/adolescents are quite congruent

with those of the adult literature, indicating that child/adolescent appraisals of injustice contribute

to deleterious pain outcomes. However, research on the role of pain-related injustice appraisals in

children is in its infancy. Specifically, existing research relies almost exclusively on the Injustice

Experience Questionnaire (IEQ). While validated among adult populations, it is premature to extend

understanding and assessment of adult appraisals of pain to child appraisals of pain. Furthermore,

little is known about mechanisms of action through which perceived injustice exerts its impact. The

objectives of this research are to examine (1) the phenomenology of child/adolescent injustice

appraisals in response to pain (including conditions under which such appraisals arise), (2) their

impact upon child pain outcomes and parental responses to child pain, and (3) the explanatory role

of anger indexed by attentional processing and expressive behaviour, in addition to traditional selfreport.

Date:1 Jan 2018 →  31 Dec 2021
Keywords:phenomenology