A survey of the degree of knowledge and experience of the cancer patient's family about pain control

Since cancer treatment is increasingly being provided in outpatient settings, it requires more responsibilities to be understood by cancer care-givers. Pain is one of the most frequent and distressing symptoms experienced by cancer patients and is a primary concern for the family caregivers. Knowledge and experience of the patients’ family is an important factor in pain management. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the degree of knowledge and experience of the cancer patient's family about pain. The present study was a cross-sectional research that was done on 100 members of patients’ families using convenience method within 1 year. A questionnaire called "family pain questionnaire" which was adapted from City of Hope in Cancer Research Center in California was used. The face validity and content validity of the questionnaire was examined and its reliability was concluded by test re test and Pearson method (r=0.81). After filling out and coding the questionnaires, data analysis was administrated by descriptive and analytic methods. Eighty eight care-givers stayed with patients more than 12 hours a day and male care-givers stayed more with their patient than females. The mean of care-givers age was 39.98±15.22 years. In addition, 90% of the people who stayed more by the patients had low degree, but they got good grade in knowledge and experience in pain management. The most common cancer were: blood cancer-lung cancer -pancreas cancer -skeletal cancer -liver and Breast cancer -prostate cancer -stomach cancer and colon cancer. The rate of care-giver's knowledge was 55.31±11.84, which was moderate, and the rate of care-giver's experience was 48.25±8.53 which was good. Overall, the mean of 6.5 was taken for all of the care-givers from knowledge and experience in pain management. Males got better score than females regarding the knowledge and experience point. Supporting the education of care-givers and enhance their knowledge and experience is a crucial factor in cancer pain management. According to the level of knowledge and experience of care-givers, basic and continued education programs can improve their level of knowledge and experience in cancer pain management