title: Categorization of postoperative pain descriptors in the sensitive, affective and evaluative dimensions of painful experiences.
abstract: The main purpose of this study was categorizing 20 descriptors of post-operative pain sensory, affective and evaluative dimensions. Sixty-one physicians participated. They were between 24 and 63 years old and categorized 20 descriptors by considering their level of attribution in the description of post-operative pain sensory, affective and evaluative qualities. The categorization showed that the most frequently attributed descriptors of sensitive pain qualities were: lacerating, unbearable, fulminating, intense and deep; and, for the affective qualities: hallucinating, annihilating, maddening, despairing, inhuman, blinding, terrible, monstrous and dreadful; whereas for the evaluative qualities, they were: unbearable, strong, intense and violent. The most frequently attributed descriptors in the description of post-operative pain are those mostly judged adequate to describe the affective qualities of this experience.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Care Nursing, Triângulo Mineiro Medical School, Brazil. lvaranda@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Lilian Varanda
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Fátima Aparecida Emm Faleiros
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Sousa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010865:Pilot Projects