CONCERNS ABOUT ANALGESICS AMONG PATIENTS AND FAMILY CAREGIVERS IN A HOSPICE SETTING

Patients receiving curative treatment for cancer have concerns about r eporting pain and using analgesics. These concerns are associated with underutilization of analgesics. To extend knowledge about such concer ns to the context of palliative care, the concerns of hospice patients and family caregivers were compared. Within 5 days of admission to ho spice, 35 patients with cancer and their caregivers each completed a m easure of eight concerns such as fear of addiction, worry about tolera nce, and worry about side effects. There was no correlation between ca regiver and patient concerns and means for the two groups were similar , indicating that within a given dyad either the patient or the caregi ver may have greater concerns. The findings highlight the need for pat ient and caregiver education about reporting pain and using analgesics . (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.