Disability and rehabilitation
-
Although the majority of pain complaints, in Australia, are among the elderly population, the focus of treatment is not on this age group. In order to achieve effective management of elderly people's chronic pain, their perspective of pain and coping strategies used needs to be understood. This qualitative study explored the preferred strategies of elderly people and the barriers they encountered in trying to manage their pain. ⋯ Many barriers have to be overcome to achieve relief for their pain such as cost, access to health care, related disorders, attitudes of health professionals, lack of communication and fear of losing independence. Health professionals need to be aware of elderly people's perspective of pain and their preferred strategies and reasons for these choices. Health services must meet their specific needs.