Pain which is either caused by the disease itself or by treatment is among other frequent symptoms experienced by patients despite progress in pharmaceutics and therapeutics. Severe pain is very common among people with cancer, and unfortunately, this pain has caused a drastic impact on the patient’s well-being. On the other hand, low back pain is another pain which has been challenging to an individual’s self-confidence to engage in the daily activities. Cancer and its treatment keep on causing overwhelming suffering to both of those who are successfully treated and those who finally succumb to death. Unfortunately, there has been no readily available information on pain control and management.
The research has tried to explore how patients who have severe cancer depict the control of cancer pain and what they expect for the management of that pain (Gibbins et al., 2013). This is due to in the research arena, measurement of the efficacy of pain management is not easy as the pain is subjective experience and its supervision is a dynamic and multifaceted process. As such, several scales have been building up, but unfortunately, most of them have shown limitations and have shown that the proportion of improperly treated clients differ significantly on which measurement scale was used (Gibbins et al., 2013). The analysis of the extent of the pain is very crucial when comparing the effectiveness of diverse treatment regimens or drugs that have validated to be used in clinical trials. However, there is a gap in the research to inform the health care professionals about what clients with severe cancer consider being vital in the supervision of their pain on a daily basis and how these clients express about the controlled pain.
Hence, to successfully control the cancer pain there is a need to assess, manage and afterward measure the suitable constituents of the pain experiences as given by patients themselves (Gibbins et al., 2013). To evaluate the patients with advanced cancer, a qualitative study was designed which used face-to-face interviews. The specialist palliative care team to patients was used to carry out the research. The study sample was composed of patients with different types of cancers; pain experiences; and taken care of under different settings such as home, hospital and hospice (Gibbins et al., 2013). The data was then collected through informed consent, semi-structured face-to-face interview by a single researcher. The data was audio-recorded and written out verbatim; it was then analyzed through a grounded theory approach. The results show that out of 17 patients approached, 15 agreed to take part in the study (Gibbins et al., 2013). Out of their interviews analyzed there were four themes which emerged: compromising/modifying expectations, self, and independence, maintaining a role, meaning of pain and role of healthcare professionals (Gibbins et al., 2013).
The research discovers that patients with severe cancer had to undergo long-suffering and put up with paint for a long time until they become desperate. When the pain had become too much threatening, patients were forced to seek help to reduce pain so as to enable them to engage in the usual activities (Gibbins et al., 2013). This shows that the requests of the patients are centered on pain affecting them rather than their general health which has limited them to maintain role, self and independence in their day-to-day life. More so, it was discovered that all the patients reported having modified medications from what it was prescribed. Patients are used to taking only enough drugs which they only perceived it will help them reduced the pain rather than more medications to become pain-free. Most of the participants were not in a position to separate pain from the rest of symptoms or their illness. The correspondents described the role of the healthcare providers as just targeting the disease rather than the pain, and this is what makes it harder for them to share the pain they are experiencing with their healthcare team because they rarely asked about the pain.
On the other hand, one more research has found out that educating patients concerning the common obstacles to cancer pain treatment is the best alternative towards pain management strategies (Ling et al., 2012). This is because education will promote self-care in treatment which subsequently enhances patient compliance towards medication and thus boost the success of pharmaceutical interventions. As a result of that intervention, the quality of life will be improved as it is a critical issue in the treatment of cancer. It was found out that pain relief and upgrading of the quality of life are of paramount significant for any intervention towards cancer pain management (Ling et al., 2012). To arrive at a conclusion on the impact of the patient education on pain interference and pain intensity as well as on the quality of life of cancer patients, the study ought to carry out a quantitative systematic review and followed the principles outlined in the Cochrane Handbook. All the patients with cancer-related pain were included. The education intervention formulated was informed of information, advice by utilizing verbal, audio/videotape messages and behavioral instructions targeted at patients with advanced cancer and it was given by healthcare professionals (Ling et al., 2012). The outcome of the quality of life in respect to perceived pain control, functional status, well-being, and satisfaction with pain treatment, anxiety, psychological status, pain interference, physical functioning and suffering itself were expressed regarding interference and intensity. The results show that pain interference and pain intensity were drastically reduced after education but in contrast, the statistical change in the quality of life was not discovered in any of the literature.
Furthermore, another study had conducted research on the reliability of the prayer-based self-efficiency scale to review self-confidence of Muslims with low back pain (Al‐Obaidi et al., 2012). The low back pain had been a challenge to an individual’s confidence to involve in the usual activities and yet the existing self-efficacy scales by then were not suitable to assess an individual’s self-confidence to do Islamic prayers. The study had set its objective which an aim of at coming up with a scale to evaluate self-esteem and to determine its consistency to arrange and execute Islamic prayer with the existence of low back pain (LBP) and Islamic prayer-based self-effective scale (IpbSeS) (Al‐Obaidi et al., 2012). The IpbSeS had three parts which include pre-prayer preparation, entering in and getting out of the mosque and the locations and the movements throughout prayer sessions. Sixty participants with LBP gave their feedback on two different visits, and their response to pain intensity was evaluated by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) whereas the pain intensity alterations were evaluated by use of a seven-point global patient rating scale. The statistical data obtained was analyzed by used of Pearson’s correlation coefficient, t-test and Wilcoxon test. The results show that the VAS scores were not significantly different between visits. Additionally, there was no relationship found between age and VAS and between body mass index and VAS. All 28 questions post on the two visits shown consistency and thus, serve as an indication of high reliability (Al‐Obaidi et al., 2012). Hence, IpbSeS seems to be a dependable instrument to evaluate the self-confidence of Muslims in the existence of low back pain to pray.
In conclusion, the strength of the evidence by this literature is robust in the sense that the designs and methods employed by this literature are reliable. The qualitative study by use face-to-face interviews and grounded theory approach was credible, and the evidence came up with which based on the first-hand information thus enhancing its trustworthiness. The study on the impact of education interventions on pain intensity experienced by patients with advanced cancer shown substantial evidence. This is because the literature reviewed on databases was from the trustworthy organizations. Lastly, the research on the reliability of the prayer-based self-efficiency scale to evaluate self-confidence of Muslims with low back pain is satisfactory. This is because the use of Visual Analogue Scale method plus the use of Pearson’s correlation coefficient, t-test and Wilcoxon test as analyzing tools grateful boost its evidence.
References
Gibbins, J., Bhatia, R., Forbes, K., & Reid, C. M. (2013). What do patients with advanced incurable cancer want from the management of their pain? A qualitative study. Palliative medicine, 0269216313486310.
Ling, C. C., Lui, L. Y., & So, W. K. (2012). Do educational interventions improve cancer patients’ quality of life and reduce pain intensity? Quantitative systematic review. Journal of advanced nursing, 68(3), 511-520.
Al‐Obaidi, S., Wall, J. C., Mulekar, M. S., & Al‐Mutairie, R. (2012). The Reliability of Prayer‐based Self‐efficacy Scale to Assess Self‐confidence of Muslims with Low Back Pain. Physiotherapy Research International, 17(2), 110-120.
