ABSTRACT

This descriptive study aims to determine the relationships between the pain beliefs and coping strategies of palliative care patients.

This study was conducted in the Malatya Training and Research Hospital Palliative Care Clinic from March 10, 2019 to June 10, 2019. The sample consisted of 138 inpatients. The data were collected using a personal information form, the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire, the Pain Coping Questionnaire, and the Palliative Performance Scale. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18.0 (IBM SPSS Corp.; Armonk, NY, USA) software was used to analyze the data. The required ethical approvals were obtained.

The patients’ mean age was 59.01 6 9.38. Of them, 65.1% were female, and 89.7% were married. Of the patients, 56.3% had completed primary school, and 75.3% were unemployed. Of the patients, 70.5% believed that pain is controlled by God. Their mean organic beliefs score was 3.04 6 0.38, and their mean psychological beliefs score was 4.83 6 1.00. Their mean scores for self-management, helplessness, conscious cognitive attempts, and medical remedies were 19.07 6 5.18, 10.72 6 3.00, 13.85 6 4.05, and 11.54 6 3.08, respectively. Their organic beliefs scores had a negative relationship with self-management scores (P < .001, r = –392) and conscious cognitive attempts scores (P < .001, r = –.350), and they had a positive weak relationship with helplessness scores (P < .001, r = .380).

The pain beliefs of patients in palliative care affect their ability to cope with pain. The planning and implementation of nursing pain management interventions should consider the relationships between the pain beliefs and pain coping strategies of patients.