Grant: Operating Grant

Children are routinely subjected to numerous painful immunization injections in the first years of life. Although safe, effective and convenient methods exist to reduce pain from these procedures, very few infants benefit. This has negative implications for the health outcomes of children as how parents manage pain over the first years of life lays the foundation for how children will express and regulate pain over their lifetime. Poor management of pain can lead to abnormal pain responses and future chronic mental health and physical discorders. Parents consistently report that they are not educated about how to manage pain and express concerns about pain experienced by their children. Ten percent of parents are nonadherent with immunization schedules in an effort to reduce infant suffering. This study will address this knowledge to care gap by evaluating hospital-based educational interventions directed to new parents about how to reduce pain during infant immunizations. Targeting parents for education about pain management is fundamentally necessary for any improvements that can be achieved. The research questions have been developed in consultation with parents, clinicians, researchers and policy makers as part of a broader research and knowledge translation strategy aimed at not only improving immunization pain management and vaccine uptake, but also improving the health outcomes for children.