Justin Doan

1. Justin Doan Literature Review: Chronic Pain Texas Tech University

2. Introduction slide • Thesis: • The purpose of this literature review is to synthesize multiple modern studies on the phenomenology of pain, primarily focusing on three main themes: modern approaches to understanding the nature of pain, the ways pain affects individuals that these methods recognized, and the potential implications that this research will have on treatment of pain. Although research discussed throughout this review is limited to the scope of its study, all of the authors in this body of research help expand our current understanding of these three major themes. While previous research claims that treating the symptoms of chronic pain was the only way to treat patients dealing with chronic pain, current research is focused on trying to understand the phenomenological causes and effects that chronic pain has on individuals in order to offer new possibilities in the treatment of persistent pain.

3. Subtopic 1 • Early research primarily used various theories and assumptions based on information known about acute pain. Modern research now uses various observational methods in order to better understand the phenomenology of pain. • American phenomenology whose main focus is “on the exploration and description of everyday experience itself”(369) • European Traditional phenomenology where “lived experience is used as a tool to access descriptions of phenomena in their primordial or original form, that is, their everyday physical reality”(369) • These two approaches are important because they show how the methods to study phenomenology have changed, researchers are moving from the Traditional European method to the more modern American phenomenology.

4. Subtopic 2 • While studying the phenomenology of pain, current research found many different findings on the effects that chronic pain has on people. Most studies on this issue primarily focus on the basic effects that pain has on the body, but in order to learn more about the phenomenology of pain, the research studies covered in this review analyzes all of the physical, psychological, and social effects that chronic pain has on an individual • One study by Janice Breen, found that “chronic pain adversely alters life patterns resulting in negative physical, psychological, and social effects”(54). This finding by Breen is further supported by a study conducted by Carolyn Spence Cagle, which performed a series of interviews with people who were suffering from persistent pain • The study by B. Sofaer et al further broke down theses concepts into two broader themes, which were, “the desire for independence, and control and adaptation to a life with chronic pain”(463). These help to further illustrate that chronic pain has greater effects on people than just in the physical dimension.

5. Subtopic 3 • The numerous findings from the current research on the phenomenology of pain have direct implications on the medical treatment of persistent pain through patient care by nurses and doctors • One of the major findings from the research is that pain is subjective experience, and individuals react to the effects in various ways. One study by Kate Seers and Karin Friedli addressed this finding and provided further implication to the treatment of persistent pain by suggesting a more “sophisticated model of pain that locates individuals within their social and cultural contexts and which allows for the inclusion of feelings and emotions”(Seer 1167). • the study by Kay A. Lopez she states that “It is important for nurse scholars to develop knowledge that is culturally relevant and respectful of the social realities of those living within the situation”(726) and that the “practice of nursing must reflect the lived, contextual realities and concerns of the clients for whom nurses provide care”(726) • The study by Breen gave further implications to the treatment of pain in the groundbreaking finding that “there is not a hard-wired pain pathway or a single pain center in the brain”(56).

6. Conclusion • So What Statement: • The main finding is that pain has adverse changes on life patterns, that in turn results in negative physical, psychological, and social effects. These findings have led to many applications that doctors and nurses can implement when they are dealing with patients in pain. This better understanding of pain will not only change treatments for patients dealing with chronic pain, but also how nurses interact and study patients. Although modern research has helped people get a better understanding of the phenomenology of pain, much more research is needed to be conducted in order for researchers to settle on the perfect research method, and to come up with the best way to treat patients suffering from persistent pain.