Patients ‘acceptance’ of chronic wound-associated pain – a qualitative descriptive study

Sebastian Probst, Geraldine Gschwind, Louise Murphy , Duygu Sezgin , Peter Carr, Caroline McIntosh, Georgina Gethin, view paper on the JTV website.

This paper starts by telling us that chronic wound-associated pain has a negative impact on the quality of life of individuals and their families. However, little research exists. This study addressed this gap through the completion of 13 semi-structured interviews. Data analysis happened by reducing and categorising data using recognised methods.

Overall, two themes emerged.

• In the first theme participants described what pain felt like and how pain significantly impaired their activities of daily living. It is clear that chronic wound pain causes much everyday disruption.
• In theme 2, participants described how they accepted to live with such pain, despite receiving significant support in controlling their pain.

Dressing changes were talked about as a time of particular pain. Participants spoke about how finding the right pain control methods was often a drawn out process. Participants depended on health care professionals and family support networks to cope with the pain but this is a process that can be exhausting for everyone.

This was a much needed and very valuable study which focused on the experiences and lives of people experiencing chronic wound pain and, through the words of participants, has shown that wound-associated pain is exhausting and has an impact on the individual’s quality of life and activities of daily living. Healthcare workers need to continue being aware of this, especially during dressing changes.

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