Cognitive Assessment in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Patients

[Lived Experience of Middle-Aged Patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome]

PURPOSE

This qualitative study aimed to explore the lived and true meaning of experiences of middle-aged patients with complex regional pain syndrome.

METHODS

The participants were 10 men and women aged 40 to 60 years who received outpatient treatment at a university hospital, could communicate, and agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected through individual interviews using open and semi-structured questions from September 2019 to July 2021 and were analyzed using the content analysis method suggested by Hsieh and Shannon (2005).

RESULTS

As a result of this study, 42 summarized semantic units related to life experience, 15 subthemes, and seven themes were derived. The seven themes were "pressed by severe pain," "frustrated because I cannot be part of the community," "distressed because people do not recognize my disease," "sad about conflicts with family," "unmotivated because of desperate life," "appreciating for support," and "putting oneself together and living daily life."

CONCLUSION

The vivid experiences of the participants derived in this study are the basic data for developing treatment guidelines. In the future, we propose a study on life and family care experiences according to the developmental characteristics of the life cycle of patients with complex regional pain syndrome and develop and apply programs to support patients and their families.

Pain acceptance-based coping in complex regional pain syndrome Type I: daily relations with pain intensity, activity, and mood

This study aimed to examine the temporal patterning of pain acceptance-based coping, activity, and mood in patients with complex regional pain syndrome Type I (CRPS-I), by using a daily diary method. A total of 30 patients with CRPS-I seeking treatment in a tertiary pain management center located in Seoul, Korea participated in the study. Multilevel random effects analyses indicated that (a) engagement in pain acceptance-based coping was significantly associated with lower same-day pain and negative mood and greater same-day activity and positive mood; (b) pain acceptance-based coping predicted increases in activity on the following day; (c) greater pain intensity was significantly associated with lower same-day pain acceptance-based coping and activity and greater same-day negative mood; and (d) pain intensity did not predict pain acceptance-based coping, activity, or mood on the following day. These findings suggest that patients with CRPS-I may benefit from responding to pain with acceptance. Further study and eventual application of this process in CRPS-I may improve upon the success of current approaches to this problem.