Cargando…

How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales

Complex factors influence how people report and interpret numerical pain ratings. Such variability can introduce noise and systematic bias into clinical pain assessment. Identification of factors that influence self-rated pain and its interpretation by others may bolster utility of these scales. In...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Boring, Brandon L., Walsh, Kaitlyn T., Nanavaty, Namrata, Ng, Brandon W., Mathur, Vani A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8285731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34282355
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663890
_version_ 1783723605766438912
author Boring, Brandon L.
Walsh, Kaitlyn T.
Nanavaty, Namrata
Ng, Brandon W.
Mathur, Vani A.
author_facet Boring, Brandon L.
Walsh, Kaitlyn T.
Nanavaty, Namrata
Ng, Brandon W.
Mathur, Vani A.
author_sort Boring, Brandon L.
collection PubMed
description Complex factors influence how people report and interpret numerical pain ratings. Such variability can introduce noise and systematic bias into clinical pain assessment. Identification of factors that influence self-rated pain and its interpretation by others may bolster utility of these scales. In this qualitative study, 338 participants described motivations for modulating their own pain reports relative to a numerical pain scale (0–10), as well as perceptions of others’ pain reporting modulation. Responses indicated that people over-report pain to enhance provider belief/responsiveness or the likelihood of pain relief, and out of fear of future pain or potential illness. Concerns of how one’s pain affects and is perceived by others, and financial concerns motivated pain under-reporting. Unprompted, many participants reported never modulating their pain ratings, citing trust in providers and personal ethics. Similar reasons were assumed to motivate others’ pain ratings. However, participants often attributed others’ over-reporting to internal causes, and their own to external. This bias may underlie common assumptions that patients over-report pain for nefarious reasons, distort interpretation of pain reports, and contribute to pain invalidation. Recognition of patient concerns and one’s own personal biases toward others’ pain reporting may improve patient-provider trust and support precision of numerical pain ratings.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8285731
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82857312021-07-18 How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales Boring, Brandon L. Walsh, Kaitlyn T. Nanavaty, Namrata Ng, Brandon W. Mathur, Vani A. Front Psychol Psychology Complex factors influence how people report and interpret numerical pain ratings. Such variability can introduce noise and systematic bias into clinical pain assessment. Identification of factors that influence self-rated pain and its interpretation by others may bolster utility of these scales. In this qualitative study, 338 participants described motivations for modulating their own pain reports relative to a numerical pain scale (0–10), as well as perceptions of others’ pain reporting modulation. Responses indicated that people over-report pain to enhance provider belief/responsiveness or the likelihood of pain relief, and out of fear of future pain or potential illness. Concerns of how one’s pain affects and is perceived by others, and financial concerns motivated pain under-reporting. Unprompted, many participants reported never modulating their pain ratings, citing trust in providers and personal ethics. Similar reasons were assumed to motivate others’ pain ratings. However, participants often attributed others’ over-reporting to internal causes, and their own to external. This bias may underlie common assumptions that patients over-report pain for nefarious reasons, distort interpretation of pain reports, and contribute to pain invalidation. Recognition of patient concerns and one’s own personal biases toward others’ pain reporting may improve patient-provider trust and support precision of numerical pain ratings. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8285731/ /pubmed/34282355 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663890 Text en Copyright © 2021 Boring, Walsh, Nanavaty, Ng and Mathur. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Boring, Brandon L.
Walsh, Kaitlyn T.
Nanavaty, Namrata
Ng, Brandon W.
Mathur, Vani A.
How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales
title How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales
title_full How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales
title_fullStr How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales
title_full_unstemmed How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales
title_short How and Why Patient Concerns Influence Pain Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal Accounts and Perceptions of Others’ Use of Numerical Pain Scales
title_sort how and why patient concerns influence pain reporting: a qualitative analysis of personal accounts and perceptions of others’ use of numerical pain scales
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8285731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34282355
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663890
work_keys_str_mv AT boringbrandonl howandwhypatientconcernsinfluencepainreportingaqualitativeanalysisofpersonalaccountsandperceptionsofothersuseofnumericalpainscales
AT walshkaitlynt howandwhypatientconcernsinfluencepainreportingaqualitativeanalysisofpersonalaccountsandperceptionsofothersuseofnumericalpainscales
AT nanavatynamrata howandwhypatientconcernsinfluencepainreportingaqualitativeanalysisofpersonalaccountsandperceptionsofothersuseofnumericalpainscales
AT ngbrandonw howandwhypatientconcernsinfluencepainreportingaqualitativeanalysisofpersonalaccountsandperceptionsofothersuseofnumericalpainscales
AT mathurvania howandwhypatientconcernsinfluencepainreportingaqualitativeanalysisofpersonalaccountsandperceptionsofothersuseofnumericalpainscales