Perceptions of control over pain by patients with cancer and their caregivers

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to broaden the context for understanding perceived control as a concept related to the cancer pain response in the homecare setting. Ten patient/caregiver dyads participated in semistructured interviews focused on questions pertaining to the patients' perceived control over their own pain as well as the caregivers' control over the patients' pain. Line-by-line analysis was used to code, categorize, and analyze the data. Six themes emerged among patients: feeling robbed of the simplest of tasks and pleasures, the pain is hungry, feeling desperate, the pain is winning, fatigue/sleep disturbances, and perceived control is soothing. For the caregivers, four main themes emerged: monitoring the suffering, feeling like an outsider, inability to control the interventions, and importance of resources. Overall, patients and their caregivers were eager to discuss how their perceived lack of control over pain affected their daily lives. The results suggest perceived control over pain is an important aspect of the pain response in the homecare setting. Nurses should evaluate perceived control over pain in patients with cancer and their caregivers and implement and test potential methods for increasing perception of control over pain.