Pain in cancer patients: Pain assessment both by patients and family caregivers and problems experienced by caregivers.

Abstract

207 Background: Pain is among the most important symptoms in terms of prevalence and a major cause of distress for cancer patients and their family caregivers. Thus, we conducted this study with the aim to compare assessment of pain among cancer patients and their caregivers and to determine the problems experienced by caregivers. Methods: A cross-sectional and descriptive design was used. This study was conducted in a chemotherapy unit and an adult oncology clinic with 220 patients diagnosed with cancer who admitted to an oncology hospital and 220 caregivers. The study data was collected using a questionnaire and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS where “0: no pain”, 10: severe pain”). Statistically significant levels were set at p < 0.05. Results: Patients were found to experience abdominal pain most of the time (29.1%) and their pain was intermittent (67.7%), stinging (16.4%) and lasted for 0 to 2 hours. Pain was diminished after use of analgesic in 50.5% of patients, worsened with physical activity in 17.7%, was associated with nausea in 7.7% and potent opioids were used for the relief of pain in 33.2% of patients. Pain severity as assessed by patients and their caregivers was 7.1±2.8 and 7.3±2.4 respectively and the most common pain-related problems in cancer patients were fatigue (p<0.05), loss of appetite and insomnia (p>0.05) as reported by both patients and caregivers. Compared to their caregivers, patients more frequently reported pain-associated financial constraints and negative effects of cancer pain on their work life and domestic life and family relationships, all of which were statistically significant (p<0.05). The caregivers most commonly reported fatigue (56.8%) in their role as a caregiver. The caregivers were also found to experienc sleep problems (40.9%), loss of appetite (27.7%), distress (19.1%), hopelessness (17%), economic difficulty (16.8%), problems in their own life (14.1%) and fatique (12.7%). Conclusions: Pain assessments of both patients and caregivers and seeking their input on how to manage potential pain-related problems are crucial to achieve adequate pain control and distress.