Issues of control in patients with cancer pain

The enhancement of patient control is frequently cited in nursing literature as an important area of nursing intervention. In this article, the concept of control, from the perspective of the patient with cancer pain, the primary family caregiver, and the home-care nurse, is discussed. Lewis identified five types of control: processual control, contingency control, cognitive control, behavioral control, and existential control. Lewis's typology of control was used as an organizing analytical framework, in this study, for interpreting the interview responses of each member of the triad. Similarities and differences in the perspectives of each member are discussed and examples of interventions that may be used to increase control in the management of pain are presented.