title: Midwifery students' conceptions of worst imaginable pain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is one of the most widely used pain assessment scales in clinical practice and research. However, the VAS is used less frequently in midwifery than in other clinical contexts. The issue of how people interpret the meaning of the VAS endpoints (i.e. no pain and worst imaginable pain) has been discussed. The aim of this study was to explore midwifery students' conceptions of 'worst imaginable pain'.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 230 midwifery students at seven universities in Sweden responded to an open-ended question: 'What is the worst imaginable pain for you?' This open-ended question is a part of a larger study. Their responses underwent manifest content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis of the midwifery students' responses to the open-ended question revealed five categories with 24 sub-categories. The categories were Overwhelming pain, Condition-related pain, Accidents, Inflicted pain and Psychological suffering.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The midwifery students' conceptions of 'worst imaginable pain' are complex, elusive and diverse.
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Education, University of Skövde, Box 408, SE-541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Electronic address: lena.martensson@his.se.
authors.forename: Lena B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Mårtensson
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Education, University of Skövde, Box 408, SE-541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Electronic address: kristina.ek@his.se.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ek
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Education, University of Skövde, Box 408, SE-541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Electronic address: anette.ekstrom@his.se.
authors.forename: Anette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ekström
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Education, University of Skövde, Box 408, SE-541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Electronic address: ingrid.bergh@his.se.
authors.forename: Ingrid H E
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Bergh
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education*; D010146:Pain / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011247:Pregnancy; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D064232:Visual Analog Scale
keywords: Childbirth; Midwifery students; Nursing; Visual Analogue Scale; Worst imaginable pain