Theoretical perspectives on pediatric pain: A critical review

Introduction: Theoretical perspectives are essential for guiding clinical practice and nursing research.
Context: The understanding of pain has evolved considerably, leading to new theoretical models integrating the different components of pain (sensory-discriminative, affective-motivational, and cognitive).
Objective: To conduct a critical review of the different theoretical perspectives on children’s procedural pain.
Method: To identify relevant theoretical literature, a literature search on pediatric pain was conducted on PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Google Scholar.
Results: Six theoretical perspectives for procedural pediatric pain were identified. These theoretical perspectives are described, and their strengths and limitations are explained.
Conclusion: This critical review will help nurses to choose a theory that will guide a research project and their clinical practice.