Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 1/2013

Exploring pain management in socio-psychological perspective

In this article we look at coping with pain from the socio-psychological perspective, questionnaires Psychological processing of pain (PZB) (1) and Social coping with the chronic pain inventory (SCCPI) (2) were used in the survey, first translated from czech language. Our research sample consisted of 70 cancer patients (men = 8, woman = 62, mean age = 52.20 y., SD = 10.07 y.) from Slovak Republic. The aim of this work was to determine the relationship between fear of pain (measured on a scale of questionnaire PZB) and and desired social support (measured on a scale of questionnaire DSCCB). The results confirmed a moderate positive relationship between fear of pain and desired social support (r = 0.36, p < 0.01). People who are experiencing intense fear of pain demonstrated enhanced need for social support, considered to be a source of coping. The study results are compared with findings from previous research in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: coping, fear of pain, pain, social support.