Cultural attitudes and beliefs about pain

Patients and health professionals bring their own cultural attitudes to the communication and interpretation of the patient's pain experience. In this interaction, it is the health professional's knowledge and attitudes that dominate the response to the patient's experience of pain. In Saudi Arabia, a multicultural foreign and local health care team is challenged to understand the cultural beliefs and attitudes toward pain of both patients and team members. To increase cultural understanding and knowledge, a collaborative inquiry project using a culturally diverse group was conducted to learn about cultural attitudes and beliefs on the causes, treatment, and experience of pain. This article presents the knowledge gained from the collaborative inquiry journey of action and reflection.