Effects of brief pain education on hospitalized cancer patients with moderate to severe pain

Abstract

The purpose of this randomized controlled study was to assess the effects of a structured pain education program on the pain experience of hospitalized cancer patients. Eligible cancer pain patients were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (receiving pain education 10-15 min per day for 5 days, n = 15) or a standard care control group (n = 15). The effects of the intervention on six pain-related variables were evaluated using three instruments. Pain intensity, pain interference with daily life, negative beliefs about opioids, beliefs about endurance of pain, pain catastrophizing (an individual's tendency to focus on and exaggerate the threat value of painful stimuli and negatively evaluate his or her own ability to deal with pain), and sense of control over pain were evaluated by the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form Taiwanese version (BPI-T), Pain and Opioid Analgesic Beliefs Scale-Cancer (POABS-CA), and the Catastrophizing subscale and the sense of control over pain measure from the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ). The results indicated that, after completing treatment, patients who had received structured pain education had significantly less pain intensity on average, negative pain beliefs regarding opioids, pain endurance beliefs, and pain catastrophizing than patients in the control group. In addition, patients in the pain education group showed a significant increase in their sense of control over pain. These preliminary results strongly suggest that structured pain education can effectively improve the pain experience of hospitalized cancer patients and should be further implemented clinically.

The Effect of Pain Management Education on the Intensity of Pain and Quality of Life of Patients with Cancer

“…Also, we should also consider the twoweek New Year's holidays in Iran straight after intervention and the possibility that some patients might not be able to do their exercises because of holiday trips and usual visits to their relatives' houses. Our findings are consistent with some previous studies on the effect of pain management educational programs for reducing pain intensity in patients with cancer [8].…”

“…Lai et al [8] found that after 5 days of pain management education for hospital admitted patients with cancer, had a significant reduction in their mean main, current pain, worst pain, and least pain scores in the case group compared to the control group. However, in the control group only the current pain and mean pain scores reduced significantly [8].…”

“…Thus, the recent instructions on pain and related review articles confirm that pain management education is a key strategy for reducing wrong beliefs in patients and increasing their control over pain [8].…”

“…Several studies have also shown that cancer-related pain management education, which includes education about the nature of pain and its treatment, muscle relief, guided visualization, as well as structured pain management, was effective in reducing the intensity of pain and negative beliefs about use of medication in patients with cancer [8][9][10].…”

Evidence For The Cancer Patients’ Pain Management: An Integrative Review

“…Among the interventions that were made in the studies, 5 (26.3%) evaluated Educational Programs, which include the implementation of scales and other features that allow a better assessment and management of pain [11,13,15,17,19]; 2 (10.5%) implemented evidence-based educational interventions, which include focus groups and application of guidelines with the professionals [18,20]; 2 (10.5%) applied cognitive-behavioral interventions, with a focus on understanding the nature of symptoms and improving the ability to control the symptoms [14,16]; and 1 (5.2%) applied daily pain management journals [12]. Table 2 highlights the main outcomes related to the studies included in the review.…”