Use of Goals in Cancer Pain Management: A Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pain Management
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Cancer pain is complex and requires individualized management based on patient goals.
• The personal pain goal (PPG) is the current standard but may not fully capture meaningful patient objectives.
• Effective pain management necessitates aligning treatment with patient-defined outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utilization of pain goals in cancer pain management.
• To identify and categorize the types of pain goals explored in existing research.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search was conducted across CINAHL, PsychInfo, and PubMed databases.
• Manual searching supplemented database findings.
• Rigorous review of titles, abstracts, and full texts ensured the selection of relevant studies.

Main Results:

• Sixteen articles met the inclusion criteria, encompassing various study designs (quality improvement, concept analysis, qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods).
• Goal setting is a critical component of pain management, with achieving personal goals being a key outcome.
• Qualitative findings highlighted personal goals related to pain management, including functional goals and the development of patient resources.
• Quantitative studies focused solely on the personal pain goal (PPG), finding its assessment feasible and equating achievement with pain control.

Conclusions:

• Existing cancer pain goal assessments lack multidimensionality, failing to incorporate patient aspirations for function, activities, mood, medication effects, or safety.
• There is a clear need for the development and validation of multidimensional patient pain goal assessments.
• Such assessments are crucial for consistent, documented, and personally meaningful pain management in cancer patients.