THE IMPACT ON QUALITY-OF-LIFE OF PATIENT-RELATED BARRIERS TO PAIN MANAGEMENT

A stress-coping model of relationships between patients' beliefs about pain. coping (analgesic use), pain severity, analgesic side-effects, and three quality of life (QOL) outcomes was tested. Participants were 182 men and women with cancer who completed valid and reliable self-r eport measures of relevant variables. Antecedent variables (age and ed ucation) showed expected relationships with beliefs. As predicted, bel iefs were significantly related to analgesic use. Analgesic use was in versely related to pain severity, but was not related to side-effect s everity. Analgesic use was inversely related to impairments in QOL bef ore controlling for pain and side-effect severity, but not after these two variables were controlled. Both analgesic side-effects and pain s everity were related to impaired QOL outcomes, including difficulty pe rforming life activities, depressed mood, and poor perceived health st atus. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.