• Ozgul Erol, Serap Unsar, Lale Yacan, Meryem Pelin, Seda Kurt, and Bülent Erdogan.
• Trakya University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Medical Nursing, Edirne, Turkey. Electronic address: ozgulerol@trakya.edu.tr.
• Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2018 Apr 1; 33: 28-34.

PurposeUncontrolled pain, especially in patients with advanced cancer, affects quality of life negatively and causes negative physical and psychological conditions. The aim of this study was to explore the pain experiences of patients with advanced cancer and how they manage with pain, and to present a view of pain management approaches of nurses from the perspectives of the patients.MethodsThis was a qualitative descriptive study of sixteen hospitalized patients with advanced cancer. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with patients. Data were analysed by Colaizzi's phenomenological method.ResultsThis study found that patients with advanced cancer who had pain experienced anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness and many restrictions in daily life as well as inability to manage with pain. Most of the patients with advanced cancer were not satisfied with their nursing care with regard to pain management. The themes that emerged were pain perception and experiences, effects of pain on daily life, pain management and management strategies and the patients' perspectives about nursing approaches to pain.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the difficulties of patients with advanced cancer who experienced pain in their daily lives, yet lack pain management strategies. Furthermore, nurses' caring approaches to patients with advanced cancer who experienced pain was found inadequate. Oncology nurses should provide educational interventions in order to enhance knowledge and skills about pain assessment and non-pharmacologic and pharmacologic strategies used in pain management.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

29 keywords...

hide…