Is Pain Assessment of Community-Dwelling Persons With Advanced Dementia by Family and Paid Care Workers Feasible?

Abstract

Context: The experience of pain is aggravated among older persons with advanced dementia (OPAD). It is often undetected and therefore untreated because of their limited capacity to identify and report their symptoms. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the pain identification skills of those who know and live with them.

Objectives: To compare the identification of pain among OPAD between family members and paid care workers and to compare the detection of pain through the use of two common assessment tools.

Methods: This study is a cross-sectional comparison conducted between 82 dyads of informants: the family member of OPAD and the paid care worker, a total of 164 individuals.

Measurements: The study used two previously validated pain assessment tools for persons suffering from dementia: the Pain Assessment in Noncommunicative Elderly persons tool (PAINE) and Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia tool (PAINAD), and a general impression question.

Results: Both family members and paid care workers were able to successfully use both tools. The correlation between family members' ratings and paid care workers' ratings was statistically significant for all the assessments. The correlations between raters were higher when family members lived with the OPAD. The correlations between PAINE and PAINAD scores were moderate and significant, both among family members and paid care workers.

Conclusion: This study shows that it is feasible to improve the assessment and identification of pain among OPAD, through the use of validated tools by family members and paid care workers, suggesting the potential to improve quality of care and quality of life of OPAD.

Keywords: Advanced dementia; community; family member; paid care workers; pain assessment.