Elderly hospice cancer patients’ descriptions of their pain experiences

Abstract

A qualitative research design was used to identify and describe the pain experience of elderly hospice patients with cancer. Eleven participants over the age of 65 receiving hospice services from a for-profit hospice in east Texas were interviewed in their homes. On the basis of a constant-comparative method of analysis, participants identified: (a) multiple sites of pain; (b) hierarchy of pain; and (c) strategies used to decrease pain. Participants differentiated “physical” and “psychological” pain, based on the source of pain. Pain was described as a hierarchy of chronic, acute, and psychological pain, with psychological being the worst. Pharmacological and nonpharmacological strategies were used to decrease their “physical” pain, but participants perceived that there was little they could do about their “psychological” pain.