Self-reported use of humor by hospitalized pre-adolescent children to cope with pain-related distress from a medical intervention

Bibliographic Data

ID12196826
AuthorsBelinda Goodenough (0000-0003-0347-7915, corresponding author), Jennifer S Ford (0000-0001-7373-6949), Jennifer Ford
Year2005
Volume18
Issue3
Publication date2005-01-19
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHumor - International Journal of Humor Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0933-1719 • E-ISSN: 1613-3722
PublisherDe Gruyter Mouton (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/humr.2005.18.3.279
OpenAlexW2025824663
LanguageEN
Citations received5

This study addresses a measurement gap on the humor-pain interface in pre-adolescent children. 57 hospitalized children aged 6–12 years who had undergone a medical intervention completed measures of pain intensity and unpleasantness (Colored Analogue Scale), general pain coping style (Pain Coping Questionnaire), humor coping—creation, general, and painspecific (child version of the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale, and a new measure, the Sydney Children’s Hospital Humor Coping Scale for Children). The results supported predictions that (a) use of pain-specific humor-coping would be positively associated with an adaptive problemfocused coping style, and (b) an emotion-focused pain coping style would be inversely related to use of humor coping. Results also supported the hypothesis that humor coping would be more strongly (and inversely) related to ratings of pain unpleasantness rather than sensory intensity. The data provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Humor Coping Scale for Children

Coping (psychology · Developmental psychology · Distress · Clinical Psychology · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Education Practices and Challenges · Humor Studies and Applications · Psychology

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