Ethnographic assessment of pain coping perceptions

A sample consisting of 54 patients and 31 dentists of Chinese, Anglo-American, and Scandinavian ethnic origin were interviewed about their ways of coping with pain. Instruments designed to assess pain coping were constructed from the descriptions elicited by the interviews. The interview data thus served as the basis for cross-cultural quantitative indices. Content analysis of the interviews revealed significant differences between patients and dentists and an East-West ethnic difference between patient groups. Anglo-American patients and all dentists preferred internally applied medicines (pills, injections etc.). Chinese patients preferred external agents (salves, oils, massage, etc.) significantly more than Chinese dentists or Western subjects. Swedish and Chinese patients preferred not to use local anesthesia for dental treatment. These results were corroborated by nonparametric and multidimensional scaling analyses of the cross-cultural quantitative data. Professional socialization had a stronger influence on pain remedy description than did ethnicity, while patient descriptions of remedies appeared to be more ethnospecific, especially showing East-West differences. These anthropologic methods appeared to be valid and reliable in revealing cognitive processes involved in the pain coping preferences of these subjects.