Perceived History of Anaphylaxis and Parental Overprotection,Autonomy, Anxiety,and Depression in Food Allergic Young Adults

This study examined autonomy, anxiety, depression, and perceptions of parental behavior in 86 food allergic young adults and 344 healthy young adults between the ages of 18 and 22. Participants completed an online survey measuring self-reported autonomy, anxiety, depression, and perceptions of parental behavior. Results indicated that, as a group, food allergic young adults did not differ from healthy peers. However, food allergic young adults who reported having experienced an anaphylactic reaction described their disease as more severe, reported more worry about their disease, and rated their parents as more overprotective than food allergic young adults who reported never having experienced anaphylaxis. The experience of anaphylaxis may be a reliable indicator of food allergic individuals who are at risk for psychological distress. A portion of this research was presented at the National Conference on Child Health Psychology in Miami, Fl in April, 2008.     

Decreasing Child Distress During Needle Sticks and Maintaining Treatment Gains Over Time

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention for reducing behavioral distress in children during needle sticks. Participants were eight children and their parents. The children received injections or venipunctures for hematological or oncological disease. The distress management intervention included instruction for children to engage in a distraction activity during needle sticks and parent training in coaching their children. The intervention was adapted to clinic and home treatment settings. Results indicated that five children exhibited significantly less distress after treatment when compared with baseline sessions, that treatment gains were maintained at follow-up for three of them, and that child distress was significantly and negatively related to use of the experimental distractor. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.     

Preparing children for medical examinations: the importance of previous medical experience

The relationship between past medical experience and children's response to preparation for medical examinations was investigated in 79 pediatric outpatients aged 3 to 12 years. Children were randomly assigned to one of five preparation conditions prior to receiving a medical examination and a throat culture: sensory information about the exam, training in coping skills (deep breathing and positive self-talk), combined sensory information and coping skills training, attention control, and no-treatment control. The results indicated that children with previous negative medical experiences demonstrated more behavioral distress during a throat culture examination that did children with previous positive or neutral medical experiences. In addition, the attention control condition appeared to increase the distress of children with previous negative medical experiences. Amount of past exposure to the specific medical procedure was not related to observed distress. The implications of these findings for the preparation of children for medical procedures are discussed.     

Memory in pediatric patients undergoing conscious sedation for aversive medical procedures.

This study investigated preserved memory in 26 pediatric cancer patients (65% boys, 77% Caucasian, mean age = 12.5 years) undergoing midazolam-induced conscious sedation during painful medical procedures to treat hematological or oncological diseases. The sedative midazolam had a significant anterograde amnesic effect on participants' performance on a visual recognition (explicit) memory task but not on a visual perceptual facilitation (implicit) memory task. That implicit memory scores were relatively unaffected while explicit memory scores deteriorated significantly indicates that leaning occurred while participants were sedated, even when participants did not recollect the learning event. These findings, which replicate those of M. R. Polster, R. A. McCarthy, G. O'Sullivan, P. A. Gray, and G. R. Park (1993) in a study of adults, have implications for the development and treatment of conditioned anxiety reactions associated with aversive medical procedures.