
Improving the Assessment of Pain in Children with Brain-based Developmental Disabilities
Pain is a very personal experience. It’s often invisible, making it hard for others to know how much pain someone is experiencing. This is particularly true for children who cannot verbally communicate.
We are conducting a systematic review of the scientific literature to identify and evaluate the quality of existing measures for assessing pain in children with brain-based developmental disabilities (such as autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, developmental delay, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, severe intellectual or learning disabilities).
This information will be used to:
- identify knowledge gaps in need of further research and/or measure development; and
- make evidence-informed recommendations regarding use of existing measures to facilitate assessment of pain by health professionals and caregivers/family members in children with brain-based developmental disabilities.
The COSMIN (COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments) will be used as an established framework for evaluating measurement properties of identified pain assessment measures.
The findings from this review will identify outcomes and measures that will be used by researchers, health professionals, in clinical registries, and by patients and families to support evidence-based pain assessment for children with brain-based developmental disabilities.
Researchers & Health Professionals
University of British Columbia
Tammie Dewan, MD
University of Calgary
Meghan McMurtry, PhD
University of Guelph
Lara Genik, PhD
University of Guelph
Carly McMorris, PhD
University of Calgary
Kailyn Turner, PhD
University of Calgary
Diane Lorenzetti, PhD
University of Calgary
Patient Partners
Dacey Doyle
Edmonton, Alberta
Chantelle Bouck
Alberta
Stacy Grainger-Schatz
Alberta
Project Funders

Project Partners
