PHYSIOLOGIC AND BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES OF CHILDREN TO A STRESSFUL MEDICAL PROCEDURE (MEDICAL PROCEDURE).
Contributors: University of Maryland, College Park.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 175
Subjects: Psychology, Physiological.; Psychology, Developmental.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Children exhibit a wide range of responses to medical procedures. The factors influencing children's responses to defined medical stressors have not been well documented. The study examined the individual difference factors and parental factors that predict children's responses to venipuncture. Eighty-seven children were visited a week prior to blood testing for elective surgery for collection of baseline psychologic and physiologic measurements. Measurements included: child's language development, parental report of child's temperament, parental coping style, parental anxiety, vagal tone, salivary cortisol, and child's response to a preparation procedure. These children were observed during venipuncture and behavioral and hormonal response to the procedure documented. Five factors were found to predict behavioral response to venipuncture: age, child's previous level of distress to a preparation procedure, change in salivary cortisol level, and temperamental dimensions of flexibility/rigidity and distractibility. Children separated into two categories of responders: those who entered the situation with lower cortisols and elevated their cortisol levels following the procedure and those who entered with higher cortisols and dropped their cortisol levels following the procedure. Children who elevated their cortisols following the procedure displayed more behavioral distress. These two groups had different predictors of distress. Children who elevated their salivary cortisols had distress predicted by age and distractibility. Children who dropped their salivary cortisols had distress predicted by their previous distress response to preparation and distractibility. The study supports previous research in adults and children that describes two or more coping styles in response to an acute stressor. It documents in children a physiologic component (pattern of cortisol response) to coping style.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: B, page: 3829.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK, 1992.

School code: 0117.