Perspectives on pain: A qualitative analysis of the Hispanic pain experience

As a primarily subjective phenomenon, pain expression may vary among different populations. Patients from minority populations may be more likely to have poor pain management, less analgesia prescribed, and lower doses administered for their pain. To understand better the Hispanic pain experience, qualitative methods were used to gather data from postoperative adult Hispanic patients in both an urban and rural setting regarding their perspective and response to the pain experience. Descriptive qualitative analysis of interview data from a sample (n=35) of predominantly female, married and Catholic respondents, ranging in age from 23-80 years yielded five categories: Characteristics of the pain experience; Managing pain; Information about pain; Interactions with providers, and Cultural considerations. Several themes defined each category and were used in a larger study to develop a Spanish language instrument to measure pain outcomes.

Descriptions of the categories and themes and implications for further research and clinical care are presented. For Hispanic populations, cultural issues having an impact on research regarding pain, such as simpatia (a striving for harmonious relationships without interpersonal conflict), respect, and family involvement, as well as problems with recruitment of minority patients to research studies, must be addressed to improve the effectiveness of pain management for this group.