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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Pain reports by older hospice cancer patients and family caregivers
— the role of cognitive functioning | | Author(s) | Rebecca S Allen, William E Haley, Brent J Small |
| Journal title | The Gerontologist, vol 42, no 4, August 2002 |
| Pages | pp 507-514 |
| Keywords | Pain ; Cognitive impairment ; Mental health [elderly] ; Cancer ; Terminal care ; Family care ; Correlation ; Cross sectional surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | The assessment and treatment of pain is a primary goal of hospice care, and both disease processes and the use of opioid analgesics may lead to cognitive impairment in hospice patients. This US cross-sectional, correlational study explored the associations between pain, cognitive functioning and gender in cancer patients and their family caregivers (176 dyads) during in-home hospice care. Contrary to expectation, care recipients with cognitive impairment reported more intense pain than those with intact cognitive functioning. However, cognitive impairment among care recipients had no impact on the pain report of family caregivers. Care recipient cognitive impairment was related to greater discrepancy in the pain reports of caregivers and care recipients. No gender differences in pain intensity were found. Hospice staff must educate family caregivers regarding the potential impact of care recipient cognitive impairment on pain reports, in order to facilitate accurate pain assessment and management. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-021021207 A |
| Classmark | CT7: E4: D: CK: LV: P6:SJ: 49: 3KB: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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