Pain drawings and concepts of pain among patients with "half-body" complaints.
OBJECTIVE
To explore main features of pain drawings and concepts about illness in patients seeking help for "half-body" complaints at two primary health care centres in different parts of Sweden.


METHODS
A qualitative study of pain-drawings and tape-recorded semi-structured interviews analysed by qualitative methods in 20 patients (4 men, 16 women, aged 37-68 years) from five health centers. Three of them were native Swedes and 17 were foreign-born.


RESULTS
All complained of pain in a left (three-fourth) or right (one-fourth) body-half, mainly in front. Some had general pain with a "worse side". Many said they had pain only on the "edges" and outlined the margins on the side of pain, but excluded the "face". Posterior drawings often received a line in the middle dividing the body in lateral halves. Pain was referred to as a "growing" thing - ("It") - that could spread ("jump") to the other side, grow and eventually paralyse them. "It" was believed as caused by body imbalance, natural factors or supernatural forces.


CONCLUSIONS
"Half-body" pain was an expression that in main was used by middle-aged patients to denote an initially superficial and frontal one-sided pain that could spread and become dangerous to their health.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with half-body complaints should be taken seriously and met with respect by doctors and other health care personnel, particularly in cross-cultural consultations.
Löfvander
Monica
M
Center for Family Medicine, Department of Neurobiology, Caring Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden. monica.lofvander@ki.se
Lindström
Maria Alsén
MA
Masich
Valentina
V
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003142:Communication; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D018594:Human Body; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000208:ethnology; D007493:Iraq / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D033262:Narration; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D010154:Pakistan / Q000208:ethnology; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000208:ethnology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012660:Semantics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology