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Self‐report pain assessment tools for cognitively intact older adults: Integrative review
Author(s) -
Kang Youjeong,
Demiris George
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of older people nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.707
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1748-3743
pISSN - 1748-3735
DOI - 10.1111/opn.12170
Subject(s) - cinahl , pain assessment , medicine , medline , rating scale , disease , self report study , physical therapy , clinical psychology , gerontology , psychology , pain management , psychiatry , psychological intervention , developmental psychology , pathology , political science , law
Background Pain is common in older adults, but it is often underreported or undertreated partly because many consider pain to be a normal consequence of ageing. Among the plethora of available self‐report pain assessment tools, there is no synthetised evidence which tools are indicated for use among cognitively intact older adults. Purpose of the study To understand documented self‐report pain assessment tools that have been used among cognitively intact older adults, and to describe their characteristics including overall performance as well as studies demonstrating their use. Methods A systematic search of the indexed databases PubMed, Psyc INFO and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature ( CINAHL Plus) was conducted to identify documented self‐report pain assessment tools through peer‐reviewed papers, including citations from January 1990 to December 2015. Thirty‐five percentage of abstracts were independently evaluated by two raters according to specific criteria. Results Among identified tools, the Iowa Pain Thermometer, the 6‐point Verbal Descriptor Scale, the Numeric Rating Scale, the short form Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the Geriatric Pain Measure ( GPM ) may be suitable tools for self‐reported pain by cognitively intact older adults based on the statement of the literature. Only two self‐report tools (the GPM and the Geriatric Painful Events Inventory) were designed specifically for older adults. Conclusions More studies are needed to evaluate pain measures' psychometric performance across different settings, racial/ethnic groups and disease categories. Since 80% of older adults have at least one chronic disease, multidimensional tools such as the GPM may need to be used more often for accurate self‐report of pain. Implications for practice Examining the psychometric properties of comprehensive self‐report pain assessment tools informs recommendations for the selection of tools to be used in clinical practice.