Psychometric Properties of the Pain Assessment Scales in Newborns: an Overview of Systematic Review

Background Timely and accurate pain assessment is essential for safe and effective management of pain in neonates. Scholars at home and abroad have developed more than 40 pain assessment scales for different neonatal groups and types of pain. However, the reliability and stability of the outcomes vary significantly. In addition, existing single studies or systematic reviews (SRs) can only provide unsystematic evidence of a particular scale or specific psychometric properties, which is not conducive to clinical decision-making. Objective To overview the SRs of psychometric properties of neonatal pain assessment scales, providing clinical practitioners and researchers with evidence for the best pain assessment scale. Methods Databases including CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang DATA, VIP, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and CINAHL were searched for SRs about psychometric properties of neonatal pain assessment scales. By screening the references of the included SRs, their associated studies were found. Two