Laila Din Osmun 1 , Jessica Hillgrove-Stuart 1 , Rebecca Pillai Riddell 1,2

1. INFANT EMOTIONAL AVAILABILITY AND PAIN REACTIVITY DURING ROUTINE IMMUNIZATIONS Laila Din Osmun1, Jessica Hillgrove-Stuart1, Rebecca Pillai Riddell1,2 1York University, 2Hospital for Sick Children Aims Discussion Methods cont’d • The results suggest that the quality of infant interactive behaviours towards their caregivers (i.e. emotionally availability) is significantly related to lower infant pain reactivity and better immediate pain reactivity regulation after a needle. It is possible that infants who are more emotionally available towards their caregivers express less pain because they are better able to use their parents to regulate their pain related distress or perhaps these infants are more available to parents because they express less pain. Infant pain reactivity was coded immediately (pain distress reactivity) and 1 minute (pain distress regulation) after needle using the Neonatal Facial Coding Scale (NFCS; Grunau and Craig, 1987). The goals of this study were to explore the relationships between infant emotional availability towards caregivers and infant pain reactivity during routine infant immunizations. Background Results Although research has previously investigated relationships between caregiver emotional availability and infant pain related distress, little research has examined the relationships between infant emotional availability and infant pain (Din, Pillai Riddell, Gordner, 2009). Exploratory correlations controlling for infant age revealed that the individual infant involvement dimension was significantly related to lower facials expressions of pain immediately after needle (pain distress reactivity). In addition, the composite infant emotional availability score, as well as the individual infant responsiveness and involvement dimensions, were significantly related to lower facials expressions of pain 1 minute after needle (pain distress regulation). Conclusions Future research should examine these relationships longitudinally in order to understand the underlying mechanisms. This study suggests that infant interactive behaviours during immunizations have important repercussions for how negative distress is regulated during infancy. In light of these findings, the immunization context can be seen as a unique opportunity to support infants and caregivers in helping infants to regulate their pain-related distress. Methods • Fifty-nine infants (M =9.14 months old, SD = 4.16 months; range 3 to 18 months) were recruited from three pediatrician clinics from the same neighbourhood in Northwest Toronto and videotaped during routine infant immunizations. • Infant emotional availability was coded using the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS; Biringen, 2000), which included a composite infant emotional availability score and two dimensions of infant interactive behaviours: • Infant responsiveness • Infant involvement Acknowledgements • Funding was made possible by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Awards awarded to Laila Din Osmun and Jessica Hillgrove-Stuart, a Lillian Wright Maternal-Child Health Scholarship awarded to Laila Din Osmun, and awards to Dr. Pillai Riddell from CIHR and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. For further information, please contact Laila Din Osmun at ldin@yorku.ca