Talking about chronic pain in family settings: a glimpse of older persons' everyday realities

Gilles Merminod; Orest Weber; Imane Semlali; Anamaria Terrier; Isabelle Decosterd; Eve Rubli Truchard; Pascal Singy

doi:10.1186/s12877-022-03058-8

Talking about chronic pain in family settings: a glimpse of older persons' everyday realities

BMC Geriatr. 2022 Apr 23;22(1):358. doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-03058-8.

Authors

Gilles Merminod^{1

2}, Orest Weber^{3

4}, Imane Semlali³, Anamaria Terrier³, Isabelle Decosterd^{5

6}, Eve Rubli Truchard^{7

8}, Pascal Singy^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Liaison Psychiatry Service, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland. gilles.merminod@unil.ch.
² Language and Information Sciences Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. gilles.merminod@unil.ch.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Liaison Psychiatry Service, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ Language and Information Sciences Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁵ Pain Center, Service of Anesthesiology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁶ Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁷ Service of Geriatric Medicine and Geriatric Rehabilitation, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁸ Chair of Geriatric Palliative Care, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Abstract

Background: The expression of chronic pain remains a delicate matter for those older persons who suffer from this condition. If many studies highlight the difficulties of putting pain into words, scarce are those that take into account how given social networks can facilitate or prevent its expression. Based on a qualitative study that explores the communication about chronic pain in older persons' social network, this article reports on this key issue of talking about health in later life within family settings and provides clinicians with information about the way older persons with chronic conditions perceive their everyday realities and social relations.

Methods: A multidisciplinary research team (medicine, linguistics and psychology) interviewed 49 persons with chronic pain, all from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, aged 75 and older, without any major cognitive or auditory impairments. After transcription, the interviews were analyzed by combining content and discourse analysis with social network theories.

Results: Communication about chronic pain depends significantly on the position of the interlocutors within the family structure, with a preference for direct relatives or individuals with similar difficulties. In social networks, the ability to communicate about chronic pain is both a resource (by allowing older persons to get help or by strengthening interpersonal relations) and a challenge (by threatening their autonomy, social relations or self-esteem).

Conclusions: The study shows the predominance of the nuclear family (partner, children) in communication relating specifically to the everyday management of chronic pain. This state of affairs is, nevertheless, balanced by issues of (loss of) autonomy. These findings, in line with current trends in geriatrics, could benefit future reflections on the scope and limits of including relatives in the care of older patients with chronic conditions.

Keywords: Chronic pain; Communication; Older persons; Qualitative research; Social network.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Chronic Pain* / diagnosis
Chronic Pain* / epidemiology
Chronic Pain* / therapy
Communication
Humans
Qualitative Research
Social Networking
Switzerland / epidemiology