Korean J Rehabil Nurs.  2000 Jun;3(1):43-58.

A Study on Patients' Concerns about Management of Cancer Pain and Related Factors

• Kim H
• Suh MJ

Abstract

Pain management is a major issue in caring of cancer patients. Patients' concerns for reporting pain and taking analgesics are patient-related barriers to the management of cancer pain. Since such study has not been done at all in Korea, it is clearly needed to study on these problems. The purpose of data in order this study is to attain basic data in order to improve cancer pain management in Korea. This is done by: 1) examining the extent of patients' concerns that might be barriers to the optimal pam management, and the extent of related factors (pain management hesitancy, adequacy of using analgesics, pain severity and pain interference); 2) identifying the relationship between patients' concerns and the related factors. The data has been collected from 180 cancer patients who were hospitalized in medical wards of one university hospital in Seoul. Korea during the period from November 1. 1997 to February 28. 1998. The data has been collected through interviews with (1) Barriers Questionnaire Korean Version (BQ-K); (2) Hesitancy Experience Questionnaires (HQ); (3) Pain Management Index (PMI); (4) Brief Pain Inventory (BPI); and (5) Demographic Data. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and by t-test. One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation using SPSSWlN program. The Results are as following: 1) The mean scores of Pain Management Concerns (PMC) by BQ-K were toward the moderate with a little high points(2.59). Most of the patients (99.4%) had some extent of concerns (over 1 out of maximum 5 points). Among the eight subscales of BQ-K. the Pain Management Concerns (PMC) about 'Fear of tolerance' was the highest (3.80) and 'Worry about side effects' was the least (1. 40). 2) The extent of Pain Management Hesitancy (PMH) by HQ of whom had pain on the day of the interview was a little higher than moderate score(5.53 out of maximum 10 points). 56.7% of the patients with experiencing pain used less adequate analgesics for the severity of pain than they were expected. 27.8% of them never used any analgesics at all. The mean score of pain severity by BPI was 16.59 (maximum: 40), and that of the interference with daily life by BPI was 32.03 (maximum: 70). 3) The patients who were older. less educated, and in low socio-economic status were likely to have more concerns. Pain Management Concerns (PMC) was positively correlated with Pain Management Hesitancy (PMH)(r=.75), pain severity (r= .44) and pain interference (r=.50). Those who were not using adequate analgesics had higher Pain Management Concerns (PMC) than did those who were using adequate analgesics (t=-5.42), The patients who had more Pain Management Concerns (PMC) tended to hesitate more to report pain and to use analgesics. They used more inadequate analgesics for the severity of pain and also had experienced more pain severity and interference with daily life. In conclusion, the patients' concerns for reporting pain and for using analgesics are major patient-related barriers to cancer pain management in Korea. The patients' concerns were correlated significantly with the level of the hesitancy experience, inadequate use of analgesics, the pain severity and the interference with daily life. Considering this, an educational program for cancer patients under the treatment with analgesics should be developed in order to solve these problems.

MeSH Terms

Analgesics
Humans
Korea
Pain Management
Surveys and Questionnaires
Seoul
Analgesics