Cancer nursing
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Comparative Study
Concerns about reporting pain and using analgesics. A comparison of persons with and without cancer.
Cancer pain is not adequately managed, and patients' reluctance to report pain and to use analgesics contribute to this problem. The Barriers Questionnaire (BQ) assesses eight patient concerns about reporting pain and using analgesics. This study was designed to determine (a) whether such concerns differ for persons who have cancer versus those who do not, (b) whether the BQ has test-retest reliability, and (c) whether concerns are related to reticence in reporting pain and using analgesics. ⋯ At Time 1, 16% said they hesitated to report pain, and 12% hesitated to use analgesics; at Time 2, 15% hesitated to report pain, and 10% hesitated to use analgesics. At Time 2, those who hesitated to report pain had higher BQ total scores than those who did not hesitate to report it (p < 0.05). We discuss the results of this study with respect to patient and public education.
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In this qualitative study, 26 white Dutch women were interviewed who had recently undergone breast cancer surgery. The interviews indicated that during their hospital stay many of them had hardly expressed their postoperative pain and had rarely asked for pain medication. Patients' conceptions of postoperative pain and analgesics, their insecurity and lack of assertiveness, and some suboptimal interactions with nurses seem to have been associated with their inhibition in reporting pain.