Reassurance can hurt: parental behavior and painful medical procedures

Replication and extension of Chambers 2002 in pediatric procedural settings (venipuncture, immunization). Parent reassurance ("you're okay, almost done") predicted higher child fear and distress; distraction and humour predicted lower. Authors propose specific parent-coaching scripts ("tell me about your favourite show", "let's count tiles") as practical alternative. Cited in AAP/SPS bundles.