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Chronic pain and distress among elderly in the community: comparison of patients’ experiences with enrolled nurses’ assessments
Author(s) -
MarieLouise HallLord,
Gerry Larsson,
Bertil Steen
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of nursing management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1365-2834
pISSN - 0966-0429
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2834.1999.00991.x
Subject(s) - medicine , distress , physical therapy , chronic pain , pain catastrophizing , personality , clinical psychology , psychology , social psychology
Aim This study compared elderly patients’ reported experiences of pain and distress with enrolled nurses’ assessments and related potential differences to patient and enrolled nurse characteristics. Background Many elderly suffer from chronic pain but few studies have focused on this group of patients. Methods Data were collected through personal interviews with 38 patients and questionnaires completed by 38 enrolled nurses. Findings Enrolled nurses underestimated patients’ experiences of physical pain, physical discomfort, breathing problems, resignation, and dependency. Pain and distress were overestimated by enrolled nurses who had lower scores on three of the five personality scales used. In contrast, enrolled nurses who had higher scores on these personality scales tended to underestimate the patients’ pain and distress. Conclusions There is a need to develop staff training programmes in order to optimize the care for elderly patients with chronic pain in the community.