Perception of Pain Expression Among Surgical Patients and Families from Three Ethnic Groups of a Nation: A Multicenter Qualitative Study.

Background

Despite its universal nature; perception, coping, responses, treatment options, and overall experiences of pain are influenced by biopsychosocial factors to various extents. Pain perception, expression, and control are progressively learned behaviors among members of a society and are culture-specific. Effects of ethnicity-related culture (ethnoculture) on pain experience in a broader context have increasingly been reported. However, evidence from ethnoculturally diverse groups of a nation, particularly based on surgical patients, is limited. Therefore, as a qualitative research effort of a broader project aimed at assessing ethnocultural determinants of surgical pain management, this study explored the perception of ethnoculturally diverse patients and families about expressing surgical disease-related pain.

Methods

This study follows subjectivist-interpretivist philosophical assumptions as an underpinning research paradigm. We purposively selected 11 patients for in-depth interviews and 12 patients' family members for focus group discussions in three hospitals of ethnic-based regions of Ethiopia. In the phenomenological frame, thematic analysis was employed.

Finding

Ethnocultural background influences how individuals express and respond to pain according to emergent themes of finding-

Conclusion

Individuals can express and respond to pain differently due to ethnocultural diversity within a nation. Researchers and clinicians should consider cultural context while applying the prevailing

Informations de copyright

© 2024 Hanago et al.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

GAH and SJ have received grants for a thematic research project titled “Assessment of Sidama Traditional Medicine” from the Hawassa University Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer, and part of the fund was used for data collection of the current study.