Pain, Pain Go Away! My Child Needs to Play: A Parent's Guidebook and Toolkit for Managing Pediatric Chronic and Functional Abdominal Pain

Children and adolescents frequently report chronic pain, with many experiencing recurring or persistent abdominal pain occurring in the absence of organic disease, often referred to as functional abdominal pain (FAP), and/or chronic abdominal pain (CAP). Research suggests that CAP and/or FAP is the result of a complex interplay of physiological, psychological, and social processes and is associated with significant disruptions in daily functioning, co-morbidity with anxiety and/or depression, and complicated family dynamics which serve to support pain behaviors. Children with CAP/FAP present as challenging cases for primary care physicians (PCPs) to manage. The present dissertation includes a literature review of CAP and FAP. Although the literature review suggests that CAP and FAP are complex issues that many children and families experience, there is a body of scholarly literature that includes important treatment recommendations and considerations. However, through general internet searches (using Google) and a review of scholarly literature (using Psych Info), it is evident that there is a lack of readily available resources for the families of children with FAP and CAP. This dissertation project includes a user-friendly, psycho-educational resource for parents and an accompanying pamphlet for PCPs to help introduce the guidebook to families, both of which are grounded in scholarly literature and the available research base.