Exploring the nursing role in pain management from a post-structuralist perspective

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Sociology
• Linguistics

Background:

• Discourses significantly influence pain perception and nursing management strategies.
• The reliance on self-reported pain for treatment planning is a common but under-examined practice in nursing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze how pain and its management are discursively constructed within nursing.
• To explore a post-structuralist perspective on pain and nursing interventions.
• To identify potential for a redefined nursing role in pain management.

Main Methods:

• Post-structuralist theoretical framework.
• Discourse analysis of pain and its management in nursing literature.
• Textual analysis of pain as a discursive construct.

Main Results:

• Pain and its management are not objective realities but are discursively constructed texts.
• Current nursing practices often overlook the influence of discourse on pain perception and treatment.
• A post-structuralist lens reveals the constructed nature of pain within healthcare settings.

Conclusions:

• Understanding pain as a discursive text can transform nursing practice.
• Nurses can adopt a more critical role in deconstructing and reconstructing pain narratives.
• This approach offers new possibilities for patient-centered pain management beyond traditional methods.