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Managing pain in older persons who receive home‐help for their daily living. Perceptions by older persons and care providers
Author(s) -
Blomqvist Kerstin,
Hallberg Ingalill R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1046/j.1471-6712.2002.00087.x
Subject(s) - medicine , activities of daily living , distraction , perception , pain management , physical therapy , nursing , psychology , neuroscience
Managing pain in older persons who receive home‐help for their daily living. Perceptions by older persons and care providers Pain is a common problem for older persons who need professional help for their daily living. In this study 94 older persons (75+) in persistent pain were compared with 52 care providers concerning the pain management methods they had used/administered during the previous week and how helpful they perceived these methods to be. Interviews were based on 16 items from the original version of the pain management inventory (PMI). Both groups perceived prescribed medication, rest and distraction as the most frequently utilized methods. Specific methods such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) or bracing/splinting or bandaging the affected body part were seldom employed, although most users perceived these methods as helpful. Care providers perceived most methods for managing pain as more effective than older persons did. The results imply that care providers need skills in a variety of pharmacological and nonpharmacological methods to manage pain and a need to evaluate effectiveness of the methods in a systematic way.