Autoévaluation de la douleur : la théorie de Jean Piaget comme cadre interprétatif de l'expression de la douleur chez l'enfant : mise au point et perspectives

Many studies have shown that the expression and the understanding of pain in children follow the sequence of the developmental levels of intelligence defined by Jean Piaget. However, the Piaget's theory is not a good interpretative framework because of its epistemological aim and because pain is not a concept for the child who talks about it. Psychology and psychoanalysis of child development argue that the affects expressed by emotions are early shared in a complex intersubjective dynamic. This complexity could be understood by the study of the dialog between the adult and the child during the assessment of pain. This method gives us an access to psychological signs of the coconstruction of a standard base about a subjective experience. In this way, we hope to improve the understanding of the properties of the expression of pain in children.