Purpose/objectives: To understand the role of patients' beliefs in pain management in a cancer population treated in a primary care setting.
Design: Secondary analyses of data from the baseline phase of a randomized study.
Setting: Eight of the largest primary care clinics in a managed care system.
Sample: 342 patients with cancer who reported pain that would not dissipate on its own or when treated by over-the-counter medication; approximately half had pain that was not cancer related.
Methods: Telephone interviews.
Main research variables: Patients' demographic characteristics, self-reported history and beliefs about pain and pain treatment, willingness to report pain and take pain medication, recent pain intensity, and administrative data on opioid prescriptions.
Findings: Patients' beliefs were not associated strongly with reporting pain or taking medication. Regression analyses revealed that patients' beliefs played a limited role in predicting recent pain intensity, whereas the providers' pain management practices seemed to have a far greater predictive role. Additionally, among patients with recent moderate to severe pain, the relationship between patients' beliefs and their history of pain and pain treatment further suggests that beliefs are likely to be formed, in part, as a consequence of the care they receive. Results did not depend on whether the cause of pain was related to cancer.
Conclusion: Patients' beliefs were important barriers to effective pain management, either as direct or indirect determinants of pain. Providers' pain management practices were more likely to determine the level of pain relief achieved and the beliefs their patients came to hold based on their personal experiences.
Implications for nursing: Nursing interventions should examine the impact of evaluating patients' beliefs in conjunction with pain assessment on pain-related behaviors and pain relief, as well as the ability of patient educational efforts to strengthen accurate beliefs and enable patients to assert themselves when interacting with less knowledgeable providers.