Summary
This study identified barriers to effective chronic pain management for low-income
community-dwelling older adults from home-visiting nurses’ perspectives. Four focus
group discussions investigated 23 nurses (five to six participants in each focus group)
at local home-visiting nursing care centres in Suwon, Korea for data collection. Data
were analyzed with inductive thematic analysis. Patient-related, nurse-related, and
organizational barriers were identified. Patient-related barriers included limited
understanding, lack of success in achieving compliance, continued use of traditional
medicines, and financial hardship. Nurse-related barriers were limitations of managing
chronic pain, inadequate knowledge and experience, lack of confidence, and uniform
interventions. Organizational barriers included inadequate staffing and time constraints,
few national support policies, unclear guidance, and limited access to available resources.
The nurses’ experiences in caring for older adults with chronic pain provided insights
into how nurses perceived barriers to adequate pain management in community-based
settings; this may be different from acute care settings. This understanding precedes
development of innovative practice strategies for chronic pain management in primary
healthcare services.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 09, 2015
Accepted:
May 9,
2015
Received in revised form:
April 30,
2015
Received:
September 29,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Australian College of Nursing Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
