Decision tree for selecting chronic pain assessment tools
The team at Perth Children’s Hospital have developed two decision trees to help guide assessment of chronic pain for people with CP. Perth Children’s Hospital recommend you start at Decision Tree 1 if you are unclear as to whether the young person has chronic pain. The decision trees help you to identify if a person with CP has chronic pain (if you are unsure) and to select the most appropriate chronic pain assessment to use for people with CP, based on their ability to self-report or need for proxy or observational assessment. Once you are guided through the process you will come to a selection of recommended tools to assess chronic pain in CP. You can then choose a tool for the domain of interest. The recommended tools have undergone examination to ensure they are valid and reliable and can be used for the varying functional abilities of people with CP. People with the lived experience of CP (caregivers of young people with CP and young people with CP) and clinicians worked together to reach consensus on the tools that are the most meaningful and helpful to include in this decision tree.
This would be best placed with the tools adapted for use for people with CP developed by Meredith Smith.