Validation of a measure of protective parent responses to children's pain

Objectives: To assess the validity of the Protect Scale of the Adult Responses to Children's Symptoms (ARCS) Questionnaire with regard to mothers' responses to their children's abdominal pain. Methods: Mothers with High (n = 32) and Low (n = 35) Protect scores on the ARCS questionnaire were recruited from participants in a larger study of family illness behavior. Mothers completed a 28-day diary report of responses to their children's abdominal pain episodes. Records of their children's annual health service utilization and costs were obtained from their health maintenance organization (HMO). Results: Mothers' scores on the ARCS Protect Scale were significantly correlated with their subsequent diary reports of protective responses to their children's abdominal pain. Compared to children of mothers in the Low Protect group, children of mothers in the High Protect group made significantly more health care visits for gastrointestinal symptoms and had significantly higher health care costs. Conclusions: Results supported the validity of the Protect Scale of the ARCS and demonstrated that mothers' protective responses to children's abdominal pain complaints at home predicted subsequent health service use for gastrointestinal symptoms.