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A brief pain diary for ambulatory patients with advanced cancer
Author(s) -
Maunsell Elizabeth,
Allard Pierre,
Dorval Michel,
Labbé Johanne
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(20000515)88:10<2387::aid-cncr25>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - medicine , ambulatory , quality of life (healthcare) , brief pain inventory , physical therapy , cancer , ambulatory care , visual analogue scale , pain assessment , pain scale , chronic pain , health care , pain management , nursing , economic growth , economics
BACKGROUND Undertreatment of pain is common among ambulatory patients with advanced cancer. Available pain assessment tools are complex and not easy to use in ambulatory care settings. METHODS The authors developed and assessed the acceptability and psychometric properties of a simple, brief 4‐week pain diary for ambulatory care assessing 3 indicators: current pain intensity on rising and retiring, number of daily rescue doses, and weekly impact of pain on quality of life. Selected European Organization for Research and Treatment (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire subscales were administered once concurrently for validation purposes. Subjects were 98 adult French‐speaking ambulatory patients with advanced cancers who were on opioids, free of apparent cognitive impairment, and recruited through 2 oncology clinics in Québec City, Québec, Canada. RESULTS In the first 3 weeks, ≥80% of patients completed all requested diary data. Internal consistencies of the 5‐item scale assessing pain impact on quality of life were 0.87–0.92 over the study period. Pain intensity predicted both increased use of rescue doses and negative pain impact on quality of life. This latter scale was also responsive to decreases in pain intensity over 1‐week intervals. As hypothesized, pain intensity, rescue doses, and pain impact on quality of life correlated with EORTC scale scores. Pain intensity correlated most strongly with the EORTC pain and global quality of life scales (r = 0.65 and −0.55, respectively). CONCLUSIONS This diary is simple, very brief, acceptable to patients, and appears to be valid. It can thus likely be used to monitor pain management for advanced cancer patients. Cancer 2000;88:2387–97. © 2000 American Cancer Society.