Reconstructing a Meaning of Pain: Older Korean American Women's Experiences with the Pain of Osteoarthritis

Abstract

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to gain a deeper understanding of older Korean American women's experiences of chronic osteoarthritic pain. The data included a set of 3 interviews with 7 women over age 60, field notes, observations, memos, and the literature about the chronic pain of osteoarthritis. Through constant comparative analysis and coding typical of grounded theory, a five-stage process emerged inductively from the data. The core variable, Reconstructing a Meaning of Pain, included the concepts of the process in the grounded theory through which the women learned to manage and tolerate the pain. During this process, the women came to perceive their pain as a component of aging rather than as a symptom of disease.

Qualitative meta‐synthesis: the experience of chronic pain across conditions

“…, Ojala et al . ); nine studies of musculoskeletal/arthritis ( n = 281) (Dickson & Kim , Hwang et al . , Afrell et al .…”

Patients’ experiences of chronic non-malignant musculoskeletal pain: a qualitative systematic review

“…I am still me and can enjoy my life When I finally did accept the fact that, okay, I wasn't going to be able to (28,35,42,61,70,71,68,69,96,99,104,107) work and that I was going to have to do things differently ... I shifted my energies ... to the stuff that gives me pleasure (96).…”

“…There must be some other reason I feel that, all these rigid things that you try and put in place to protect (28,29,32,34,39,70,73,89,93,94,103 yourself, quite often are actually a problem that you have in your mind rather 108,113,115) than your back. So I think your mind and your back are quite closely linked (93).…”

“…There are other people like me that You know, it is so hard to have this illness ... but it kind of grew smaller believe and value my experience when I noticed that others have it too and that I may talk about it ... earlier (35,67,70,80,100,103,104,114) when I had severe pains I just kind of shrank in to myself ... you were finally allowed to talk about it aloud (114). Figure 2 shows the conceptual model drawn from conceptual categories 1-5.…”

Relationships in pain: The experience of relationships to people living with chronic pain in rural areas

“…Dickson and Kim also found this reticence in their cohort of Korean-American women living with chronic osteoarthritic pain. 20 Blomqvist and Edberg interviewed elderly folk who lived with chronic pain and found that pain threatened these people's self-image as independent individuals. 21 A large percentage of these people tried to hide the pain with silence and a reluctance to complain.…”