Carl L von Baeyer

Carl L. von Baeyer is a Canadian psychologist, academic, and author. He is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Saskatchewan.

Von Baeyer is most known for his work on the assessment and relief of pain in children. He was awarded the 2017 Jeffrey Lawson Award for Advocacy in Children's Pain Relief from the American Pain Society. His authored works include publications in academic journals such as Pain and The Journal of Pain as well as book chapters. Von Baeyer is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. He has explored and advocated for the benefits and feasibility of a shared parenting arrangement where both parents work part-time while also spending time at home with their children.

Education Von Baeyer completed his BA in psychology in 1971 from the University of British Columbia, followed by an MA in 1974 and PhD in 1978 from the University of Waterloo in clinical psychology. He was Editor of Pediatric Pain Letter from 2005 to 2014. He was a member of the Council of the Special Interest Group on Pain in Childhood, International Association for the Study of Pain, from 2001 to 2017.

After retirement as Professor Emeritus from the University of Saskatchewan He explains that pain intensity scores are inherently an oversimplification: they neglect features such as the location, sensory quality, and affective and cognitive aspects of the experience of pain.

In his 1994 research, von Baeyer investigated whether repeated clinical pain measurement affects perceived pain intensity and distress in low-back-pain patients, finding that daily self-monitoring does not significantly alter subjective pain intensity over an 8-day period.

Much of von Baeyer's work has focused on pediatric pain. His 2001 collaborative study introduced and validated the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R), a six-face adaptation of the original seven-face FPS for children's pain assessment. It demonstrated a strong correlation with visual analogue and colored analogue scales, suitable for ages 4–12, adhering to a 0-10 metric.

In a 2004 publication, he examined the impact of children's memories of painful experiences on their later reactions to pain and healthcare interventions, discussing developmental, individual, situational, and methodological factors, as well as strategies to mitigate negative consequences.

A systematic review published in 2007 was commissioned by the Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT). It focused on observational pain scales for children aged 3 to 18. It identified 20 scales, recommended specific ones for acute pain contexts, and suggested further research for chronic pain assessment.

In 2009, he presented validation data supporting the use of the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) for self-report of pain intensity in children aged 8 years and older, demonstrating functional equivalence with other self-report pain scales like the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Moreover, in 2017, he co-edited a book titled Chronic and Recurrent Pain, which highlighted the prevalence and impact of pediatric chronic pain, discussing various conditions, their consequences, and advocating for improved recognition and treatment strategies to advance understanding and care for affected children.

Von Baeyer's 2018 study investigated the validity and reliability of the Verbal Numerical Rating Scale (VNRS) as a measure of pain intensity in children aged 4 to 17 years, finding strong support for its use in children aged 6 to 17 years but cautioning against its use in those aged 4 and 5 years due to weaker convergent validity. In his 2019 work, he studied clinically significant changes in pain scores among children with painful conditions, using VNRS and FPS-R scales. Taking into account initial pain intensity and patient characteristics, the study offered guidelines for clinical practice and research.

A later work published in 2021 examined the suitability of two alternate simplified pain intensity scales for preschool-aged children, finding that while 3-year-olds struggle with both scales, 4-year-olds demonstrate greater accuracy with the Simplified Concrete Ordinal Scale, suggesting its potential superiority over the Simplified Faces Pain Scale.

Awards and honors 2010 – Outstanding Pain Mentorship Award, Canadian Pain Society 2017 – Jeffrey Lawson Award for Advocacy in Children's Pain Relief, American Pain Society

Personal life Von Baeyer was born in Zurich, Switzerland; his family emigrated to Canada when he was one year old. He is a great-grandson of Adolf von Baeyer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1905. His paternal grandfather was Adolf's son :de:Hans Ritter von Baeyer, a professor of orthopedic surgery, and his maternal grandfather was :de:Ernst Freudenberg, a professor of pediatrics. His father was Hans Jakob von Baeyer (1912-1998) and his mother was Renata (Freudenberg) von Baeyer, 1911-1977. Carl von Baeyer is a brother of Hans Christian von Baeyer, a science writer and Chancellor Professor of Physics at the College of William and Mary.