OBSERVATION OF PAIN BEHAVIORS DURING EPISODES OF SICKLE-CELL DISEASE PAIN

Objective: To assess the utility of a brief behavioral observation method to quantify pain. Design: Correlational study. Patients: 31 sickle cell disease (SCD) patients first seen in an outpatient clinic in painful crisis. Outcome Measures: Observed pain behaviors, physician rating of patient pain on a 0 to 10 scale, patient rating of pain on a 0 to 10 scale, and patient pain report from the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Results: High interrater reliability for the brief behavioral observation was found, and observed pain behavior was found to correlate significantly with physician ratings of pain. Conclusions: This study is an important first step toward developing a systematic behavior-observation methodology for the analysis of SCD pain. The current methodology was found to be reliable and easily implemented in a busy, outpatient clinic.