Congruity of cancer pain perceptions between Taiwanese patients and family caregivers: Relationship to patients' concerns about reporting pain and using analgesics

The purposes of this study were twofold: first, to examine the congruity of cancer pain perceptions between Taiwanese cancer patients and their family caregivers and second, to determine if there was a relationship between this congruity of perception and patients' concerns about reporting pain and using analgesics. A total of 89 dyads of oncology inpatients and their primary family caregivers participated in this study. The instruments completed by patients consisted of Barriers Questionnaire Taiwan Form, the Brief Pain Inventory Chinese version (BPI), the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Family caregivers completed the Brief Pain Inventory short form and a demographic questionnaire. The Pearson's correlation, intraclass correlation coefficients, and the kappa statistics between family caregivers and patients' pain ratings were statistically significant. Patients in the noncongruent group (difference of >1 on 'pain now' scale of the BPI) experienced higher levels of pain and poor levels of performance status. Family caregivers in the noncongruent group were more likely to be older and less educated. A patient's greater concerns about reporting pain and using analgesics were related to a lower level of congruity concerning pain perception between them and their family caregivers. Interventions aimed at overcoming patients' concerns about reporting pain and using analgesics may have beneficial effects on the congruency between pain perceptions of patients and family caregivers.