THE TREATMENT OF RECURRENT ABDOMINAL-PAIN IN CHILDREN - A CONTROLLED COMPARISON OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL FAMILY INTERVENTION AND STANDARD PEDIATRIC CARE

This study describes the results of a controlled clinical trial involv ing 44 7- to 14-year-old children with recurrent abdominal pain who we re randomly allocated to either cognitive-behavioral family interventi on (CBFI) or standard pediatric care (SPC). Both treatment conditions resulted in significant improvements on measures of pain intensity and pain behavior. However, the children receiving CBFI had a higher rate of complete elimination of pain, lower levels of relapse at 6- and 12 -month follow-up, and lower levels of interference with their activiti es as a result of pain and parents reported a higher level of satisfac tion with the treatment than children receiving SPC. After controlling for pretreatment levels of pain, children's active self-coping and mo thers' caregiving strategies were significant independent predictors o f pain behavior at posttreatment.