Describing chronic pain: towards bilingual practice.
This paper reports on the findings of a pilot study that collated and categorised a range of Welsh-medium chronic pain descriptors and their conceptually equivalent English translations in order to provide a preliminary basis for chronic pain assessment amongst patients in the bilingual community of North West Wales. The results demonstrate the unique and complex nature of individual pain experiences and the challenges of meaningful interpretation, particularly when patient and practitioner do not share a common preferred language. Detailed analysis of the descriptors provided valuable insight into the patient's world, revealing cultural patterns of beliefs and behaviours as well as the suffering associated with chronic pain. Implications for improving chronic pain assessment amongst bilingual speakers are explored.
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Studies, University of Wales Bangor, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2EF, UK. gwerfyl.w.roberts@bangor.ac.uk
Gwerfyl
G
Roberts
Bridie
B
Kent
Delyth
D
Prys
Rhian
R
Lewis
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003144:Communication Barriers; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000451:nursing; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012660:Semantics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013561:Symbolism; D016746:Transcultural Nursing; D014175:Translating; D014852:Wales