Qualitative pain classification in hospice and pain therapy unit

Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2012 Dec;29(8):604-9. doi: 10.1177/1049909111435810. Epub 2012 Feb 5.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated patient's meaning attribution to pain in hospice and pain therapy unit, using a qualitative approach: narrative-based medicine. The data presented here were related to patients (n = 17) hospitalized in Rimini Hospice (Italy). These data were compared to those of patients (n = 21) with noncancer pain (control sample). The interviews were then analyzed according to the technique of thematic narrative analysis. The results of our research identified a differential process in pain processing in relationship to the meaning that the patient attributed to pain. The thematic analysis of the interviews allowed the inductive construction of a specific network of pain dimensions, which were summarized in "the pain chronogram."

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Female
  • Hospices / methods*
  • Humans
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Narration
  • Neoplasms / complications
  • Neoplasms / psychology
  • Pain / psychology*
  • Pain Clinics*
  • Pain Measurement / psychology*