TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term effectiveness of a patient and family pain education program on overcoming barriers to management of cancer pain
AU - Lin, Chia Chin
AU - Chou, Pi Ling
AU - Wu, Shang Liang
AU - Chang, Yue Cune
AU - Lai, Yuen-Liang
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the NSC 89-2314-B-083-069 from the National Science Council in Taiwan. The authors thank Ms. Denise Dipert for her careful review and editing this manuscript.
PY - 2006/6
Y1 - 2006/6
N2 - The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of a patient and family pain education program on reducing cancer patients' and their families' barriers to (i.e., concerns or misconceptions about) cancer pain management, on increasing patients' adherence to a prescribed analgesic regimen, and on decreasing pain intensity and pain interference with daily life. An experimental and longitudinal design was used. The experimental group consisted of 31 pairs of cancer outpatients and their family carers, while the control group consisted of 30 patient-family pairs (N = 122). Patients and their family carers in the experimental group simultaneously received a pain management education program. Both groups had pretest data collection and after-test follow-ups on the second and fourth weeks at the outpatient clinics. Comparisons between those two groups were made using the Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) method. Results revealed that at both the second and fourth weeks, patients and family carers in the experimental group showed a significantly greater reduction in barrier scores than did patients and family carers in the control group. At the second and fourth weeks, patients in the experimental group reported significantly better adherence to a scheduled analgesic regimen than did patients in the control group. In the fourth week, patients in the experimental group reported significantly lower levels of worst pain intensity and pain interference than did patients in the control group. This research provides evidence of the effectiveness of a patient and family pain education program.
AB - The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of a patient and family pain education program on reducing cancer patients' and their families' barriers to (i.e., concerns or misconceptions about) cancer pain management, on increasing patients' adherence to a prescribed analgesic regimen, and on decreasing pain intensity and pain interference with daily life. An experimental and longitudinal design was used. The experimental group consisted of 31 pairs of cancer outpatients and their family carers, while the control group consisted of 30 patient-family pairs (N = 122). Patients and their family carers in the experimental group simultaneously received a pain management education program. Both groups had pretest data collection and after-test follow-ups on the second and fourth weeks at the outpatient clinics. Comparisons between those two groups were made using the Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) method. Results revealed that at both the second and fourth weeks, patients and family carers in the experimental group showed a significantly greater reduction in barrier scores than did patients and family carers in the control group. At the second and fourth weeks, patients in the experimental group reported significantly better adherence to a scheduled analgesic regimen than did patients in the control group. In the fourth week, patients in the experimental group reported significantly lower levels of worst pain intensity and pain interference than did patients in the control group. This research provides evidence of the effectiveness of a patient and family pain education program.
KW - Barriers to pain management
KW - Cancer pain
KW - Family
KW - Pain education program
KW - Pain management
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pain.2006.01.039
DO - 10.1016/j.pain.2006.01.039
M3 - Article
C2 - 16545909
AN - SCOPUS:33646585442
SN - 0304-3959
VL - 122
SP - 271
EP - 281
JO - Pain
JF - Pain
IS - 3
ER -