The Forgotten Ones: Challenges and Needs of Children Living with Disabling Parental Chronic Pain

A qualitative study explored the challenges and needs of children living with parental chronic pain. Young adult children (n = 30) of parents with chronic pain were interviewed. Parents (n = 20) with chronic pain participated in four focus groups. Content analysis yielded five categories of child challenges: (a) understanding the big picture; (b) enduring hardships; (c) grieving losses; (d) communicating with parent, and; (e) isolating self from peers. Three categories of child needs emerged: (a) knowledge; (b) skills, and; (c) supervised interaction. Understanding these challenges and needs is a vital step in the process of developing evidence-based interventions for this at-risk group.