Obtaining a result closest to patients' reports about pain is crucial in pa
in management. The literature in the West supports the view that there are
cultural differences in perception, interpretation, and expression of pain.
However, there has been minimal review in Chinese communities. Therefore,
the concepts of cancer pain among Chinese patients with cancer were explore
d by data source triangulation. There were 33 informants: 18 adult Chinese
patients with cancer who were in pain, 7 physicians, and 8 nurses. The inte
rview dialogue was transcribed into written Chinese, followed by coding and
categorization. There were no predetermined themes for categorization. The
dialogue was coded according to the contextual meaning. The nature and num
ber of categories depended entirely on the coding. Five dimensions were ide
ntified: functional, pharmacologic, pain belief and meanings, psychosocial,
and emotional. With reference to the five dimensions, a lens model was con
structed to explain the cancer pain experience in a Chinese concert. In the
lens model, two lenses were used to illustrate the relations of the dimens
ions and cancer pain experience in the Chinese context. The pain experience
was named as total pain intensity. The Functional, pharmacologic, psychoso
cial, and emotional dimensions were the independent variables. The pain bel
iefs and meanings dimension was the mediating variable, and the dependent v
ariable was the total pain intensity in the assessment of cancer pain.