This is the first study to provide support for the benefits of short-term mindfulness practice, specifically mindfulness meditation, in improving WMC in adolescents. Results highlight the importance of investigating the components of mindfulness-based interventions among adolescents given that such interventions may improve cognitive function. More broadly, mindfulness interventions may be delivered in an abridged format, thus increasing their potential for integration into school settings and into existing treatment protocols.

There were age-related differences regarding whether anxiety or pain catastrophizing more strongly predicted specific functional outcomes. Assessment and intervention efforts should emphasize both anxiety and pain catastrophizing.

diligent monitoring and education are crucial to ensure safety. Untoward side effects adverse events and pain scores suggest PNCA may be an effective method of pain control for this patient population.

The SCARED shows promise as a measure of anxiety in pediatric pain. Important caveats for its usage and areas in need of additional research are discussed. Of importance in pediatric pain is improving current approaches for measuring school anxiety in this population.

The FIM appears to be a suitable measure of parent self-reported HRQOL and family functioning in pediatric chronic pain.

Pain scores, side effects, and adverse events suggest that PNCA may be an effective method of pain control for children with developmental delay. Diligent monitoring and education are crucial to ensure safety.

This study is a first step toward investigating mechanisms of altered pain processing in adolescents with JFM. Adolescents with JFM were found be more sensitive to pressure pain than their healthy peers, which suggests a propensity for sensitization of peripheral and/or central nociceptive information often reported in adult fibromyalgia, and which does not appear to be affected by anxiety.

Anxiety was a robust predictor of school functioning across a range of domains. Evaluating anxiety symptoms in pediatric chronic pain will likely facilitate case conceptualization and treatment planning. This study supports a shift in focus from pain to anxiety as the driving force of school impairment in youth with chronic pain.