All 4 faces pain scales were found to be adequately supported by psychometric data .
When given a choice between faces scales , children preferred the WBFPRS .
Confounding of pain intensity with affect caused by use of smiling and crying anchor faces is a disadvantage of the WBFPRS .
: For clinical use , we found no grounds to switch from 1 faces scale to another when 1 of the scales is in use .
CONTEXT : Numerous faces scales have been developed for the measurement of  pain intensity in children .
It remains unclear whether any one of the faces scales is better for a particular purpose with regard to validity , reliability , feasibility , and preference .
OBJECTIVES : To summarize and systematic ally review faces pain scales most commonly used to obtain self-report of pain intensity in children for evaluation of reliability and validity and to compare the scales for preference and utility .
The effect of the sight of blood and use of decorative adhesive bandages on pain intensity ratings by preschool children.
A total of 70 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years participated in two studies that tested the effect of ( a ) the sight of blood and ( b ) the application of a decorated adhesive b and age on pain intensity ratings following a fingerstick . In both studies , children were r and omly assigned to one of four groups . These groups allowed for the combinations of testing blood or no blood and the application of a decorated adhesive b and age or plain adhesive b and age . The Oucher ( Beyer , 1984 ) and the Poker Chip Tool ( Hester , 1979 ) were used as self-report measures of pain intensity at the time of the fingerstick and immediately after the application of the adhesive b and age . The pilot study recruited 20 children from two day care centers and subjected them to sham fingersticks . Results indicated that there were no differences across the groups in pain intensity ratings . However , there was a trend for the sight of blood to increase the child 's pain intensity rating . Age was a significant covariate across all groups , with younger children reporting higher levels of pain intensity . The second study took place in a pediatric test center of a metropolitan children 's hospital . Fifty outpatient children who were receiving fingersticks for preoperative or diagnostic testing were enrolled . Results indicated that there were no differences across groups , and age was only significant on the Poker Chip Tool . These results suggest that simple interventions and distractions are not sufficient to decrease perceived pain intensity ratings in young children
All 4 faces pain scales were found to be adequately supported by psychometric data .
When given a choice between faces scales , children preferred the WBFPRS .
Confounding of pain intensity with affect caused by use of smiling and crying anchor faces is a disadvantage of the WBFPRS .
: For clinical use , we found no grounds to switch from 1 faces scale to another when 1 of the scales is in use .
CONTEXT : Numerous faces scales have been developed for the measurement of  pain intensity in children .
It remains unclear whether any one of the faces scales is better for a particular purpose with regard to validity , reliability , feasibility , and preference .
OBJECTIVES : To summarize and systematic ally review faces pain scales most commonly used to obtain self-report of pain intensity in children for evaluation of reliability and validity and to compare the scales for preference and utility .