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Cultural perceptions of pain and pain coping among patients and dentists
Author(s) -
Moore Rod,
Miller Marc L.,
Weinstein Philip,
Dworkin Samuel F.,
Liou Hsiaohsiun
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1986.tb01084.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pain perception , coping (psychology) , perception , pain catastrophizing , toothache , pain management , physical therapy , dentistry , chronic pain , clinical psychology , neuroscience , biology
Abstract A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were developed to describe pain and pain coping perceptions of 25 Chinese, 25 Anglo‐Americans and 35 Scandinavians (54 patients and 21 dentists). Results revealed universal dimensions of pain such as time, intensity, location, quality, cause and curability. More culture‐specific dimensions included the Chinese concept suantong , a multivariate concept of bone, muscle, joint, tooth and gingival pain. “Real” and “imagined” pains were mostly described by Western subjects, especially dentists; “imagined pain” being the conversion of fear or anxiety into perceived pain. These data indicate that the methods were sensitive to culture as a variable and indicate that ethnicity may play a stronger role in the perceptions of pain description than does professional socialization, but that professional socialization processes may have more influence on the perception of pain coping modes for this sample population.