A Study on Chronic Pain, Pain Coping, and Depression according to Attributions of Somatic Symptoms among Elderly People

Chang, Hae Kyung

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done to examine differences in chronic pain, pain coping, and depression according to attributions of somatic symptoms among the elderly. METHOD: Data were collected by self-report questionnaires from 195 persons age 65 or over. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Scheffe's test were used to analyze the data.
RESULTS
There were statistically significant differences in chronic pain among the elders according to educational level and duration of pain, and in passive coping according to gender, physical function and duration of pain. There were statistically significant differences among the elders in active coping according to amount of spending money, in depression according to age, educational level, amount of spending money, and physical function. There also were statistically significant differences in chronic pain, pain coping, and depression according to attributions of somatic symptoms.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study indicate that elders who have somatic attributions are incline to complain more severe chronic pain, to cope passively, and to manifest more severe depression than elders who have normalizing attributions. Continuous research is needed to improve effective nursing interventions for attributions of somatic symptoms among elders.