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Caring for elderly people with persistent pain in the community: a qualitative perspective on the attitudes of patients and nurses
Author(s) -
Walker Janet M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
health and social care in the community
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.984
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1365-2524
pISSN - 0966-0410
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2524.1994.tb00168.x
Subject(s) - psychosocial , respondent , qualitative research , closed ended question , focus group , coping (psychology) , medicine , perspective (graphical) , nursing , social support , psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , social science , statistics , mathematics , marketing , artificial intelligence , sociology , political science , computer science , law , business
This paper describes qualitative findings from a study which was designed to explore the nursing needs of elderly people in the community who experience persistent pain. Participants were 190 elderly people who were receiving visits from a district nurse and who reported pain of more than 6 weeks’ duration. The most common reported cause of pain was arthritis. Respondents participated in structured interviews which included open questions about their experiences and expectations. The district nurses completed questionnaires that included a combination of open and closed questions concerning pain and coping factors, for each individual respondent known to them. They were also asked questions about their general attitudes and beliefs about pain management. Data from all open questions were subjected to content analysis. The results indicate that most elderly respondents valued having someone who was prepared to listen to them, understand how they felt and provide information and encouragement. Most did not expect the nurse to relieve their pain. On the other hand, the nurses appeared to feel relatively helpless when medical treatments failed and although the importance of good social support visits was well recognized by most, the concept of ‘support’ tended to be vaguely defined. These findings highlight the importance of psychosocial care for the elderly in the community and the need for a strong focus upon psychosocial assessment and management during training for health professionals.