Patient-Related Barriers to Cancer Pain Management – A Prospective Cross Sectional Study in a Tertiary Hospital
- Author:
Choy YC
;
Wan Nuruddin Shah WJ
;
Wong YM
;
Boey CY
;
Noor Zuhaily MN
;
Kumutha T
;
Juliana J
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Cancer pain management;
opioid;
patient-related barriers;
tertiary hospital;
tolerance.
- From:Journal of Surgical Academia
2013;3(1):7-12
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Effective management of cancer pain is often hampered by patients’ lack of knowledge regarding cancer pain
management and other barriers related to ethnicity and religious beliefs. This cross sectional study was
performed to determine the patient-related barriers to effective cancer pain management. One hundred patients
receiving cancer pain management were studied. Inclusion criteria were: patients over the age of 18 years, able
to communicate, with known diagnosis of cancer, experiencing persistent pain for the past two weeks. A
modified version of the Barriers Questionnaire II (BQ-II) was used and a modified Brief Pain Inventory was
used to assess the pain profile. Barriers such as, patient’s attitude and beliefs, communication skills and fear of
side effects of pain medication were determined, given a score and the summation was recorded as the total
patient related barriers score. Overall, 85% of respondents achieved more than 40% pain relief and the 72 of 100
patients reported low patient related barrier scores of 6 or less. Nevertheless, the main patient related barriers
were: fear of tolerance to opioids (51%), ethnicity (p=0.003) and religious beliefs (p=0.002) which constituted
the major components of the patient-related barriers score. Ethnicity and religious beliefs had significant
influence on patient-related barriers score suggesting the need of further investigation into this area. In order to
achieve a comprehensive view, other barriers to effective cancer pain management such as those related to the
health systems and healthcare providers need to be assessed together.
- Full text:P020150615437026840875.pdf
