Audio-Visual Relaxation Technology for Pediatric Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome

The VAS is a self-reported quantitative measure of pain intensity used commonly in clinical practice as well as in pain research. The VAS is a straight horizontal line of fixed length, usually 0 mm to 100 mm where 0 denotes 'no pain' and 100 denotes 'pain as bad as it could possibly be'. The participant marks a point on the line that they feel represents the perception of their current pain. The VAS score is then determined by measuring in millimeters from the left-hand end of the line to the point that the participant marks. The primary outcome measure is is the mean change in VAS from 5 minutes before the relaxation session to 5 minutes after the session.

The Pain Catastrophizing Scale -Child (PCS-C) is an adaptation of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale with established construct and predictive validity in 8-16 years old subjects. It is a self-report measure which includes 13 items about the thoughts and feelings experienced when a child is in pain. Respondents use a 5-point rating scale (where 0 = never to 4 = always), to indicate how often they experience each thought or feeling. The total score for the PCS equals 52, with a score above 24 indicating a high score. The lowest score can be 0. Higher score represents worse outcome. PCS-C scale has three sub-scales namely, rumination, magnification, and helplessness. The investigators will not assess the sub-scales as a part of this study. The outcome measure will be reported as the mean difference in post-intervention score (assessed 5 minutes after the session) minus pre-intervention score (assessed 5 minuets before the session) for both groups with the 95% confidence interval.

The Self-Efficacy Scale for Child Functioning (SES-C) is a reliable and validated self-efficacy measure for children 9-18 years of age with chronic pain. The child version has established psychometric properties, excellent reliability and strong evidence for construct validity. It consists of 7 Likert scale questions with a range from very sure (=1) to very unsure (=5). The lowest score can be 7, which reflects highest self-efficacy to manage pain, and the highest score can be 35, which corresponds to lowest self-efficacy to manage pain. Higher score represents worse outcome. It has no sub-scales. The outcome measure will be reported as the mean difference in post-intervention score (assessed 5 minutes after the session) minus pre-intervention score (assessed 5 minuets before the session) for both groups with the 95% confidence interval.