Conceptualizing Cancer Pain: A Potential Construct for the Assessment and Intervention of Cancer Pain

Abstract

This research study reviews the concepts associated with cancer pain, suggests how the concepts may be related, and provides a new assessment tool that may be used for stakeholders to broaden their conceptualization of pain. Using a modified thematic analysis, data was collected and organized into themes and subheadings. The themes were reorganized into a pain conceptualization model. The study concludes with an assessment that can be used with patients or their supports, and which investigates how pain is currently thought about and managed. The assessment is used for two reasons; so that clinicians or treatment professionals understand how patients think about their pain and treatment options, and so that the questions in the assessment may raise patients’ awareness about additional ways of viewing and treating their pain.