Abstract
Pain is a major problem in the nursing home population, with a prevalence range of
27% to 84%. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with
actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage (
International Association for the Study of Pain (2008), 2008
). It has an impact on many aspects of a person's emotional, social, and physical
functioning, and on quality of life (QoL) The purpose of this study was to describe
pain and QoL in a nursing home population that could self-report pain and to examine
the association between QoL and pain in these patients. Pain was measured by a verbal
rating scale from “no pain” to “severe pain.” Quality of life was measured by the
Dementia Quality of Life Questionnaire (DQoL) consisting of five domains: self-esteem,
positive affect/humor, feeling of belonging, and sense of esthetics and negative affect.
Totally, 106 patients, with a mean age of 86 years (SD 6.5, range 65-102) with a Mini
Mental State Examination (MMSE) score >11 were included, and 87% had mild or moderate
reduced cognitive function. In total, 55% reported pain, and out of those, 55% reported
mild, 29% moderate, and 16% severe pain. A significant association was found between
scores on the negative affect domain and reported pain (t = 3.17; p < .01) and pain intensity (r = 0.40; p < .01). No significant associations were found between the other domains and pain.
This study shows that pain has a negative effect on mood. Examining the relationship
between pain and negative feelings in persons with reduced cognitive function may
suggest new areas of intervention for reducing pain and negative feelings in this
patient population.International Association for the Study of Pain (2008). Retrieved December 16, 2008: http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Pain_Definitions&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=1728#Pain.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 31, 2009
Accepted:
January 26,
2009
Received in revised form:
January 19,
2009
Received:
October 16,
2008
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
