| Summary: | The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was used as a theoretical framework to
elucidate the roles of beliefs and attitudes in the parental management of paediatric post-surgical
pain. In essence, the TPB states that beliefs predict attitude, attitude predicts
intention and intention predicts behaviour. Over the past 25 years, researchers have used this
model to examine the extent to which attitudes (mediated by intention) predict behaviour.
The evidence indicates that parents with negative attitudes will tend to undermedicate their
children. However, that is not enough. To improve the in-home management of children's
post-operative pain, researchers and clinicians need to understand why some parents have
negative attitudes towards pain medications.
This thesis set out to determine if various factors, aside from beliefs, could reliably
predict a parent's attitude toward administering pain medication to their child. Archival data
from 236 parents who had a child undergoing day surgery at British Columbia's Children's
Hospital were used. As anticipated by the TPB, it was found that the belief-based measure
was a significant predictor of attitude. But contrary to expectations, variables relating to the
parents' personal experiences with surgery were stronger predictors of attitude. These
findings will aid in bridging the gap between the theory and practice of paediatric pain
management.
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