{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,12]],"date-time":"2026-05-12T23:57:01Z","timestamp":1778630221258,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758672000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100020265","name":"Stan Perron Charitable Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100020265","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100020265","name":"Stan Perron Charitable Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100020265","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000925","name":"National Health and Medical Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2009322"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2009322"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000925","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100012155","name":"Channel 7 Telethon Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100012155","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Pain is a common experience associated with healthcare for children, who often recall it as the worst part of hospitalisation. Several factors make assessment of pain more challenging in children. Families have previously identified the development of improved tools to assess pain in children as a key priority. We therefore sough to investigate the nature of this experience from the perspective of children and their parents to inform the development of such tools.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>To explore the phenomenology of children\u2019s acute pain to inform improved assessment, we conducted a qualitative study with combined (children aged \u22654 and parents) semi-structured interviews of families with children aged 0\u201316 years at a tertiary paediatric hospital in Western Australia. The interviews were analysed using the Framework Method.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>We recruited 27 families, stratified across &lt;6 years, 6\u201311 years, and 12\u2009+\u2009years child age groups. Children and parents demonstrated a range of insights and a wide diversity of ideas about pain. The key themes were: pain is a familiar part of normal life that serves an important function; children communicate pain with others, both verbally and non-verbally; children relate pain to a range of other sensory experiences, with some common experiences identified such as the colour red representing pain; existing pain scales are difficult for children due to limited experiences of extremes of pain; and pain scales could be improved by using more familiar or attractive content or technology.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Children demonstrated diverse experiences of pain and sensory associations. These findings can inform the development of paediatric pain assessment methodology.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p>The novelty and adaptability offered by digital platforms may assist in creating individualised and engaging pain assessment tools.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0332570","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T17:31:17Z","timestamp":1758735077000},"page":"e0332570","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["A qualitative exploration of the phenomenology of pain in children to inform pain assessment methods"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Thomas F.E.","family":"Drake-Brockman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Megan","family":"Dodd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Cooney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bojana","family":"Stepanovic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3600-1315","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"David","family":"Sommerfield","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vance","family":"Locke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Aine","family":"Sommerfield","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8043-8541","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Britta S.","family":"von Ungern-Sternberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]]},"reference":[{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0332570.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1976","DOI":"10.1097\/j.pain.0000000000001939","article-title":"The revised International Association for the Study of Pain definition of pain: concepts, challenges, and compromises","volume":"161","author":"SN Raja","year":"2020","journal-title":"Pain"},{"key":"pone.0332570.ref002","volume-title":"Acute Pain Management: Scientific Evidence","author":"SA Schug","year":"2020","edition":"5"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0332570.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1083","DOI":"10.1111\/pan.13993","article-title":"Epidemiology of Pediatric Surgery in the United States","volume":"30","author":"JA Rabbitts","year":"2020","journal-title":"Paediatr 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