Attitudes of Hungarian adults toward use of opioids in pain management

Abstract

Introduction: Though the most effective pain medication is already available in Western countries, cancer pain is often undertreated. The primary causes of this phenomenon are the fears of opioids, which haven’t been explored systematically in Hungary. Aims: Exploration of the attitudes toward opioids among healthy Hungarian adults. Methods: The participants (88/143 male/female, 29.47 ± 11.05 years) were asked to complete story of a patient who was suggested to accept opioid therapy. The stories were rated by independent raters on Likert-scales to access the strength of attitudes toward pain medication [1]. Results: Only an average 29.6% of the stories expressed positive attitudes, but varied fears (of addiction: 20.9%, nearing death: 10.5%, the inattention of the doctor: 4.7%), and hopes connected to alternative therapies (4.7%) emerged, too. Conclusions: The compliance of the patient and his/her family members is a very important factor of effective medical treatment, therefore individual attitudes must be considered. Orv. Hetil., 2013, 154, 455–463.