Differences in pain knowledge in cancer patients with and without pain

The authors determined: 1) whether there were differences in knowledge about pain between oncology outpatients with and without cancer-related pain and 2) whether there were relationships between selected patient characteristics (age, gender, education, Karnofsky performance status, pain intensity, and pain duration) and the knowledge about pain of oncology outpatients with cancer-related pain.

Three hundred sixty-nine oncology outpatients completed several self-report questionnaires including a demographic questionnaire, a pain experience scale that measured knowledge about pain and pain management, the Karnofsky performance scale, and descriptive numeric rating scales that measured pain intensity and pain duration.

Patients with cancer-related pain knew significantly more about pain and its management than pain-free patients (P < 0.004). However, in both groups, mean knowledge scores were below 60%. Older patients with cancer-related pain had less knowledge about pain than younger patients (P < 0.0001). In addition, patients with cancer pain who had more education and those with higher reported pain intensity scores had more knowledge about pain and pain management. Finally, women with cancer pain had more knowledge than men about pain and pain management.

Results of this study suggest that oncology patients with and without pain need more education about pain and effective pain management strategies.