Pain medication management processes used by oncology outpatients and family caregivers part II: home and lifestyle contexts.
BACKGROUND
Despite the increasing complexity of medication regimens for persistent cancer pain, little is known about how oncology outpatients and their family caregivers manage pain medications at home.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the day-to-day management of pain medications from the perspectives of oncology outpatients and their family caregivers who participated in a randomized clinical trial of a psychoeducational intervention called the Pro-Self(©) Plus Pain Control Program. In this article, we focus on pain medication management in the context of highly individualized home environments and lifestyles.


METHODS
This qualitative study was conducted as part of a randomized clinical trial, in which an embedded mixed methods research design was used. Audio-recorded dialogue among patients, family caregivers, and intervention nurses was analyzed using qualitative research methods.


RESULTS
Home and lifestyle contexts for managing pain medications included highly individualized home environments, work and recreational activities, personal routines, and family characteristics. Pain medication management processes particularly relevant in these contexts included understanding, organizing, storing, scheduling, remembering, and taking the medications. With the exception of their interactions with the intervention nurses, most study participants had little involvement with clinicians as they worked through these processes.


CONCLUSIONS
Pain medication management is an ongoing multidimensional process, each step of which has to be mastered by patients and their family caregivers when cancer treatment and supportive care are provided on an outpatient basis. Realistic patient- and family-centered skill-building interventions are needed to achieve effective and safe pain medication management in the contexts of individual home environments and lifestyles.
College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. Electronic address: kschumacher@unmc.edu.
Karen L
KL
Schumacher
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Vicki L
VL
Plano Clark
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Claudia M
CM
West
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Marylin J
MJ
Dodd
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Michael W
MW
Rabow
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Christine
C
Miaskowski
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004356:Drug Storage / Q000379:methods; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D054539:Medication Therapy Management; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D009726:Nurses; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods
D000700:Analgesics
Cancer pain management; analgesics; family caregivers; home; lifestyle; medication management; medications; qualitative research; randomized clinical trial; self-care; self-management