Abstract
BackgroundChronic pain is more prevalent among women; however, the majority of standardized pain drawings are often collected using male-like androgynous body representations.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to assess whether gender-specific and high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) body charts facilitate the communication of pain for women.MethodsUsing mixed-methods and a cross-over design, female patients with chronic pain were asked to provide detailed drawings of their current pain on masculine and feminine two-dimensional (2D) body schemas (N=41, Part I) or on female 2D and 3D high-resolution body schemas (N=41, Part II) on a computer tablet. The consistency of the drawings between body charts were assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots. Semistructured interviews and a preference questionnaire were then used to obtain qualitative and quantitative responses of the drawing experience.ResultsThe consistency between body charts were high (Part I: ICC=0.980, Part II: ICC=0.994). The preference ratio for the masculine to feminine body schemas were 6:35 and 18:23 for the 2D to 3D female body charts. Patients reported that the 3D body chart enabled a more accurate expression of their pain due to the detailed contours of the musculature and bone structure, however, patients also reported the 3D body chart was too human and believed that skin-like appearance limited ‘deep pain’ expressions.ConclusionsProviding gender-specific body charts may facilitate the communication of pain and the level of detail (2D vs 3D body charts) should be used according to patients’ needs.
Highlights
Pain is the primary symptom for 40% of all visits to the primary care physician [1]
Providing gender-specific body charts may facilitate the communication of pain and the level of detail (2D vs 3D body charts) should be used according to patients’ needs. (JMIR Hum Factors 2016;3(2):e19) doi:10.2196/humanfactors
Two outliers were excluded because the difference between the pixel densities of the masculine and feminine body charts were more than 2 standard deviation (SD) away from the group mean
Summary
Pain is the primary symptom for 40% of all visits to the primary care physician [1]. The most common cause of pain is of musculoskeletal origin [1,2], and almost all anatomical sites are reported to have a higher prevalence of chronic pain for women [3]. 2 | e19 | p.1 (page number not for citation purposes) tools and questionnaires have been developed to document and communicate a patient’s pain experience and associated symptoms to health care professionals and researchers [5]. Paper versions of two-dimensional (2D) outlines of the body are provided to the patient for them to indicate and draw the area or pattern of their perceived pain. These traditional 2D outlines of the body are deemed androgynous but they are clearly more masculine [8,9,10,11] and whether this influences a woman’s ability to clearly express the extent and location of her pain is unknown. Chronic pain is more prevalent among women; the majority of standardized pain drawings are often collected using male-like androgynous body representations
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