Pain experiences, control beliefs and coping strategies in Chinese elders with osteoarthritis

Aim. To explore pain experiences, pain control beliefs and pain coping strategies among elders with osteoarthritis in Taiwan. Background. Osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease that commonly affects older people, is manifested by pain and disability. Despite the increasing number of older people, few studies have explored their chronic pain experiences, pain beliefs and pain coping strategies. Design. Survey. Methods. Participants (n = 205) were recruited by convenience sampling from three outpatient clinics at a medical centre in northern Taiwan. Data were collected by questionnaire on pain sites, pain intensity, pain interference with activity, pain control beliefs, pain coping strategies, depressive tendency and demographic variables. Scores of worst pain intensity were used to divide participants into three groups: mild, moderate and severe pain. Results. Participants' average number of pain sites was 2·9 (SD 2·2). Most participants (70%) suffered moderate to severe worst pain. Participants perceived average pain control beliefs (mean 1·7, SD 0·7). Most used pharmacological coping strategies about half of the time (mean 1·8, SD 0·7) and non-pharmacological coping strategies about one-quarter of the time (mean 1·0, SD 0·5). Scores on satisfaction with living situation, depressive tendency, pain intensity, pain interference, pain control beliefs and frequency of using pharmacological coping strategies differed significantly among the three pain groups. Results of regression analysis showed that the intensity of average pain, pain interference with walking, pain interference with sleeping and pain control beliefs significantly predicted intensity of worst pain, explaining 54% of the variance in intensity of worst pain. Conclusion. This study highlights the importance of dealing with pain in this population. Relevance to clinical practice. Since health care providers play an important role in helping elders to manage pain, the authors recommend training physicians and nurses to regularly assess pain and to provide current knowledge about pain assessment and management strategies for elders with osteoarthritis.