Testing a Model of the Nursing Assessment of Infant Pain

The purpose of this study was to test whether elements of an infant pain assessment model interacted as postulated by the model. The elements are the infant’s response to comfort measures and the principle of consolability. Four different scenarios for each of 16 videotaped infants were prepared. Each scenario represented one of four different combinations of likelihood of pain and consolability and consisted of a videotape plus written clinical information. Forty-eight volunteer pediatric nurses assessed infant pain of 16 scenarios, each depicting one of the 16 infants. Mean level of assessed pain was highest for the “high likelihood of pain and difficult to console” group, second highest for the “high likelihood of pain and easily consoled” group, third highest for the “low likelihood of pain and difficult to console” group and least for the “low likelihood of pain and easily consoled” group. Findings supported the infant pain assessment model.