Chronic Pain and Occupation: An Exploration of the Lived Experience

Fisher, Grace; Emerson, Linda; Firpo, Camille; Ptak, Jan; Wonn, Jennifer; Bartolacci, Gwen

doi:10.5014/ajot.61.3.290

Cited by 48 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…activities that are performed on a regular basis in everyday life (Hasselkus 2006;Law 2002;Steultjens, et al 2002), health professions like occupational therapy need to consider how individuals with CRC relate to morality in their everyday living, including meaning, values and engagement in activities (Kielhofner 2008). The literature from fields such as occupational science (OS) and occupational therapy (OT) underlines the importance of considering moral issues in the understanding and assessment of the needs of clients with CRC and assisting them in living an everyday life with chronic diseases (Alsaker and Josephsson 2004;Clark 1993;Fisher et al 2007;Goodacre 2006;Keponen and Kielhofner 2006). Huibers, Marcus and Wessely (2006) address CRC from a biomedical labelling tradition, and say that diagnoses provide both pros and cons for the clients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stories stirring the quest of the good: narratives of women living with chronic rheumatic conditions

Alsaker

Josephsson

2011

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research

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This ethnography based study explored how four women living with chronic rheumatic conditions related to and communicated moral issues in their everyday activities. Narrative analyses were conducted and showed that the women linked everyday events and happenings to moral quests rather than to moral issues. The analyses are presented in the form of four stories, stories which are emplotted with different moral quests, quests that are grounded in the women's everyday doing. For example, one woman was concerned if she was doing well enough and another woman was wondering about her society's good. The four stories that form our interpretation show how the women experienced and managed unpredictability and contradictions in their everyday life and activities, due to their conditions and society's labelling traditions. The quests communicate the significance of their experiences as human beings participating in a society where they are considered to be different.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stories stirring the quest of the good: narratives of women living with chronic rheumatic conditions

Alsaker

Josephsson

2011

Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research

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“…In this study, experience of chronic pain was not defined and pain was measured by a quality of life questionnaire and VAS. Fisher et al (2007) explored the relationship between chronic pain and occupation with questionnaires and semi-structured interviews (n=13). As a conclusion, the authors state that the study illuminates the importance of therapeutic listening, the innovativeness of people who have chronic pain, and the possible therapeutic potential of occupation.…”

Section: Chronic Pain Experience Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revising the negative meaning of chronic pain – A phenomenological study

et al. 2014

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A Phenomenological StudyEsitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston liikuntatieteellisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston Musica-rakennuksen salissa M103 helmikuun 21. päivänä 2015 kello 12.Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä, in building Musica, auditorium M103, on February 21, 2015 at 12 o'clock noon. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2015The Chronic pain is a complex combination of biopsychosocial symptoms affecting each other. In chronic pain, the patient's entire body may become a source of pain, and eventually the pain occupies the patient's mind and entire life. The purpose of this thesis was to search for a more profound understanding of the phenomenon of chronic pain from the perspective of persons with chronic pain and who have been treated for their chronic pain. Thirty-four participants with different types chronic pain were interviewed. The transcribed interviews were analysed using Giorgi's phenomenological method consisting of four phases: (1) reading the transcriptions several times, (2) discriminating meaning units, (3) collecting meaning units into groups, into meaning structures, (4) the synthesis, describing the phenomenon of chronic pain.The results indicate that chronic pain impaired the participants' life by controlling thoughts and making life itself painful. The strongest arguments made by the participants due to chronic pain were distress, loneliness, lost identity, and low quality of life. The participants stated that the key to managing their pain was to reconsider their meanings of pain. In the analysis, four essential themes of chronic pain emerged, namely: "Chronic pain affects the whole person", "Invisibility of chronic pain", "Negative meaning of chronic pain", and "Dominance of chronic pain".Chronic pain is a multidimensional illness which requires a multidisciplinary approach to understand the phenomenon of it. Accordingly, a multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme is required to manage it; unfortunately the opposite is true in clinical practice, adopting only a rhetoric approach. A potential source of psychosocial symptoms may be the personal responses to the experience of chronic pain based on individual meaning. Thus, the focus should be to identify and revise the meanings of pain in order to manage chronic pain and to restore positivity in personal life. The phenomenological framework provides a relevant new insight into the present understanding of chronic pain.

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“…Furthermore, pain patients 14 often report problems with time adjustment and with temporal imbalance (37). Strategies that provide structure and routine in everyday occupations are found to be helpful (38) and engagement in occupations has been shown to have a therapeutic potential, in terms of organizing time and bringing structure and meaning to life (4,14). Based on existing research, a temporal balance as a whole should thus be put in focus when patients have problems with sleeping.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further research addressing the patients' self-defined goals, occupational problems and activity limitations has been called for (1,4).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Everyday occupational problems perceived by participants in a pain rehabilitation programme

Persson

Lexell

Rivano-Fischer

et al. 2013

Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy

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Background: The knowledge of the diversity of occupational problems perceived by people with chronic pain is insufficient.Aims: To describe everyday occupational problems among patients with musculoskeletal pain enrolled in a pain rehabilitation program, and to compare subgroups based on participant characteristics. Methods:The sample consisted of 152 men and women. Occupational performance was assessed with the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). Other data were obtained from forms including socio-demographic variables and pain diagnoses. Major findings:The participants reported 706 prioritized everyday occupational problems categorised as self-care (37%), productivity (32%), and leisure (31%). Household management was the largest sub-category. Working, sitting and cleaning the house were the specific occupational problems reported most frequently. Women reported significantly more occupations related to productivity and men reported more self-care occupations.Principal conclusion: Patients with pain have a wide range of occupational problems that need to be addressed, along with gender specific needs.

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Chronic Pain and Occupation: An Exploration of the Lived Experience

Abstract: This study illuminates the importance of therapeutic listening, the innovativeness of people who have chronic pain, and the possible therapeutic potential of occupation.

Cited by 48 publications

References 12 publications

Stories stirring the quest of the good: narratives of women living with chronic rheumatic conditions

Stories stirring the quest of the good: narratives of women living with chronic rheumatic conditions

Revising the negative meaning of chronic pain – A phenomenological study

Everyday occupational problems perceived by participants in a pain rehabilitation programme

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