(159) An Exploratory Ethnographic Study on Pain Descriptor Usage among African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites in the Nashville Area

Abstract

This poster will present findings from an exploratory, ethnographic study examining descriptors of pain used by African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites in the Nashville area. Pain is a universal phenomenon. But despite its pervasiveness as an experience, the ability to adequately communicate how pain feels frequently eludes people. The inability to articulate the characteristics of pain can have clinical implications, from misdiagnoses to distrust on behalf of the health care provider, and a sense of frustration on part of the patient seeking treatment. Further, potential linguistic differences may amplify this inability to communicate the experience of pain across socio-economic and ethnic lines. The McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) is currently the most widely used and respected subjective scale for rating pain. The instrument asks respondents to rate their pain along two dimensions: a sensory dimension, related to what the patient “feels” (i.e. stabbing, burning, aching, etc.), and an affective dimension, which explores the mood and cognitive experience of pain (i.e. punishing, exhausting, worrying, etc.). The aim of this study is to examine if there are ethnic differences between how Non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans in the Nashville area think of, and ultimately speak about their experiences with pain. Rather than assuming that people conceptualize and describe pain using terms and domains included in the MPQ scale, this project will seek to elicit the terms and dimensions individuals use to describe pain experiences in their own words. Clinical implications for the assessment and diagnosis of pain related conditions are discussed. (Melzak and Katz, 2013).