title: Struggling for a normal life: work as an individual self-care management strategy among persons living with non-malignant chronic pain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A significant part of the population suffers from non-malignant chronic pain that is not treated by pain specialists. No successful long-term treatment exists. The patients have to deal with their condition in collaboration with health personnel establishing treatment programmes under uncertain circumstances with few guidelines. Thus, there is a strong need for knowledge on how patients with chronic non-malignant pain manage their condition.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to explore how patients with chronic non-malignant pain deal with their condition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty patients with chronic non-malignant pain (aged 26-63 in year 2006) told in an open-ended interview situation, how they lived with and dealt with their condition. The interviews were analysed within a phenomenological meaning condensation framework.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For all patients the pain was as an integrated part of their life that required huge efforts to cope with. Typically, the patients experienced loneliness, fear of stigmatization and despair because of their unpredictable condition, and they wanted to come back to a normalized daily life, first and foremost by getting back to paid work.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, the patients developed individual strategies that were influenced by their local contexts and life situation as well as the pain itself. This may be interpreted in line with Bourdieu's notions of habitus, strategies and social capital.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, Finnmark University College, Finnmark, Norway.
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nilsen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, Finnmark University College, Finnmark, Norway.
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Anderssen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008132:Loneliness; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011788:Quality of Life; D012648:Self Care; D057545:Social Stigma
keywords: Bourdieu; Work; nature