The language of pain at the end of life.
The effective management of pain at the end of life relies on the accurate assessment of pain. Language is the mechanism through which pain is assessed using self-report pain tools. The purpose of this study was to explore how elderly hospice patients describe their pain and to compare their descriptions with three commonly used pain assessment tools (i.e., McGill Pain Questionnaire, Memorial Pain Assessment Card, and the Visual Analogue Scale). Eleven elderly hospice patients with cancer were interviewed in their homes using open-ended unstructured questions. Data were analyzed line by line to identify descriptors of pain. These descriptors were then compared to standardized language used in the three pain assessment tools. In describing their pain, participants used many words, emphasized their pain by repeating those words, and used similes to describe their pain. The participants used approximately 30% of the standardized language found in three commonly used self-report instruments. These findings suggest that in conjunction with self-report instruments, the patient's own verbal descriptions should be used in the assessment of pain.
Duggleby
Wendy
W
College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, RR5 Box 7F, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7K 3J8. twduggleby@sasktel.net
D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011788:Quality of Life; D012660:Semantics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013781:Texas; D014705:Verbal Behavior