Cancer Pain Social Processes and Pain Management in Home Hospice Care

Abstract

Background: The high incidence of pain associated with end-stage cancers indicates the need for a new approach to understanding how and why patients, caregivers, and clinicians make pain management choices.

Aims: To provide pilot data and preliminary categories for developing a middle-range nursing theory and framework through which to scrutinize and identify problematic processes involved in management of poorly controlled pain for home hospice patients, caregivers, and nurses, the "caring triad."

Design: A qualitative pilot study using constructivist grounded theory methodology to answer the question, "In the context of hospice, what are the social processes occurring for and between each member of the hospice caring triad and how can these processes be categorized?"

Settings: Home hospice care.

Participants/subjects: Hospice patients experiencing cancer pain, family caregivers, hospice nurses.

Methods: From a sample of triads including hospice patients, caregivers and nurses, data were collected at observational visits, individual interviews, and a focus group over the course of each triad's study involvement. We used recursive coding processes to interpret data.

Results: Three preliminary categories of social processes were identified: Pain Meaning, Working Toward Comfort, and Bridging Pain; and six subcategories: perceiving pain and discomfort, knowing what to do, planning activities, negotiating a pain plan, talking about pain, and being together in pain.

Conclusions: As illustrated in the caring triad cases presented, this study moved the management approach of pain from a dichotomous realm of nurse-patient, to the more naturalistic realm for home hospice of nurse-patient-caregiver. In analyzing social processes within and across triad members, we identified categories of impact to target assessment, intervention, and education to improve pain outcomes.