title: The effect of pain question phrasing on older adult pain information.
abstract: The aim of this study was to test how practitioners' pain communication affected the pain information provided by older adults. A post-test only, double-blind experiment was used to test how the phrasing of practitioners' pain questions-open-ended and without social desirability bias; closed-ended and without social desirability bias; or open-ended and with social desirability bias-affected the pain information provided by 312 community-living older adults with osteoarthritis pain. Older adults were randomly assigned to one of the three pain phrasing conditions to watch and orally respond to a computer-displayed videotape of a practitioner asking about their pain. All responded to a second videotape of the practitioner asking if there was anything further they wanted to communicate. Lastly, all responded to a third videotape asking if there was anything further they wanted to communicate about their pain. Transcripts of the audiotaped responses were content analyzed using 16 a priori criteria from national guidelines to identify important pain information for osteoarthritis pain management. Older adults described significantly more pain information in response to the open-ended question without social desirability. The two follow-up questions elicited significant additional information for all three groups, but did not compensate for the initial reduced pain information from the closed-ended and social desirability-biased groups. Initial use of an open-ended pain question without social desirability bias and use of follow-up questions significantly increase the amount of important pain information provided by older adults with osteoarthritis pain.
authors.affiliation: University of Connecticut, School of Nursing, 231 Glenbrook Road, Storrs, CT 06269-2026, USA. deborah.mcdonald@uconn.edu
authors.forename: Deborah Dillon
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shea
authors.forename: Leonie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fedo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012928:Social Desirability