Pain reports by older hospice cancer patients and family caregivers: the role of cognitive functioning.
OBJECTIVE
Prior research in nursing homes has shown that cognitive impairment may reduce self-reported pain, but this relation has not been systematically explored among hospice patients. The assessment and treatment of pain is a primary goal of hospice care, and both disease processes and the use of opioid analgesics may lead to cognitive impairment among hospice patients. However, little is known about how cognitive functioning may impact the self-report of pain or the report of care recipient pain by family caregivers.


METHODS
We explored the associations between pain, cognitive functioning, and gender among cancer patients and their family caregivers (N = 176 dyads) during in-home hospice care. This was a cross-sectional, correlational study.


RESULTS
Contrary to expectation, care recipients with cognitive impairment reported more intense pain than care recipients with intact cognitive functioning. However, cognitive impairment among care recipients had no impact on the pain report of family caregivers. Care recipient cognitive impairment was related to greater discrepancy in the pain reports of caregivers and care recipients. No gender differences in pain intensity report were found.


CONCLUSIONS
Measurement issues and implications for assessing self-reported pain among hospice cancer patients with impaired cognitive functioning and the report of care recipient pain by family caregivers are discussed. Specifically, hospice staff must educate family caregivers regarding the potential impact of care recipient cognitive impairment on pain reports in order to facilitate accurate pain assessment and management.
Allen
Rebecca S
RS
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa 35487-0348, USA. raburge@bama.ua.edu
Haley
William E
WE
Small
Brent J
BJ
McMillan
Susan C
SC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006738:Hospices; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D010146:Pain; D059408:Pain Management; D010147:Pain Measurement