• Katie de Luca, Lynne Parkinson, Sharyn Hunter, and Julie Ellen Byles.
• Research Centre for Generational Health and Ageing, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
• Australas J Ageing. 2018 Sep 1; 37 (3): 210-216.

ObjectiveTo explore qualitative insights into the pain experience of older women with quantitatively derived pain profiles.MethodsThe sequential mixed methods design involved applying quantitative pain profiles, derived from an earlier latent class analysis, to qualitative comments by a sample of older Australian women with arthritis. Data from a substudy of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, mid-aged cohort, born 1946-1951, were used. Inductive content analysis was conducted to explore qualitative insights into the experience of pain.ResultsThe average age of women was 64.6 years (±1.4). Within each derived pain profile, themes generated from the qualitative comments of women were concordant with the profile descriptors: 'I manage my pain' for the uni-dimensional, mild pain profile (comments from 56 women); 'I live with pain every day' and 'I rely on medication regularly' for the moderate multidimensional pain profile (comments from 39 women); and 'multiple pains', 'I suffer with pain' and 'I am unable and adjust' for the severe multidimensional pain profile (comments from 31 women).ConclusionWomen with different pain profiles used different language and strategies in managing their pain experience, information which can guide clinicians to provide more tailored support for self-management and care of arthritis pain.© 2018 AJA Inc.

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