Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T20:16:06.943Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The relationship between hope and pain in a sample of hospitalized oncology patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2008

Inger Utne*
Affiliation:
Oslo University College, Faculty of Nursing, Oslo, Norway Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, California
Christine Miaskowski
Affiliation:
Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, California Rikshospitalet - Radiumhospitalet Medical Centre, Oslo, Norway
Kristin Bjordal
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Oncology, Rikshospitalet - Radiumhospitalet Medical Center, Oslo, Norway
Steven M. Paul
Affiliation:
Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, California
Gunnhild Jakobsen
Affiliation:
Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Tone Rustøen
Affiliation:
Oslo University College, Faculty of Nursing, Oslo, Norway Rikshospitalet - Radiumhospitalet Medical Centre, Oslo, Norway
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Inger Utne, Faculty of Nursing, Oslo University College, Postbox 4, St. Olavs Plass, 0131 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objective:

The aims of this study were to describe hope in a sample of hospitalized oncology patients in pain and to determine if various demographic, clinical, and pain characteristics were related to hope. In addition, the individual item and total Herth Hope Index (HHI) scores for these oncology inpatients with pain were compared with those from the general Norwegian population.

Method:

Oncology inpatients in pain (n = 225) were recruited from the Norwegian Radium Hospital. The research instruments included the HHI, the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlations, and one-sample t tests.

Results:

Total HHI scores in oncology inpatients with pain were comparable to a similar sample in Taiwan. The Norwegian oncology inpatients reported significantly higher total HHI scores than the general Norwegian population. The largest difference was on the item “I feel scared about my future.” No relationships were found between total HHI scores and any of the pain intensity scores. Significant relationships were found between total HHI scores and the more psychosocial interference items on BPI and sleep.

Significance of results:

The higher levels of hope in the oncology inpatients with pain compared with the general Norwegian population may reflect a “response shift” in the patients' evaluation of hope. Although the difference is relatively small, it may represent a clinically meaningful difference. The fact that significant relationships were found between HHI scores and the more psychosocial interference scores on BPI suggest that hope may be more related to psychosocial effects on pain than on its physical effects.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aaronson, N.K., Ahmedzai, S., Bergman, B., et al. (1993). The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30: A quality-of-life instrument for use in international clinical trials in oncology. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 85, 365376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Averill, J.R. & Sundarajan, L. (2004). Hope as rhetoric: Cultural narratives of wishing and coping. In Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Hope, Eliott, J.A. (ed.), New York: Nova science Publishers.Google Scholar
Beckie, T.M., Beckstead, J.W. & Webb, M.S. (2001). Modeling women's quality of life after cardiac events. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 23, 179194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benzein, E., Norberg, A. & Saveman, B.-I. (2001). The meaning of the lived experience of hope in patients with cancer in palliative home care. Palliative Medicine, 15, 117126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buccheri, G., Ferrigno, D. & Tamburini, M. (1996). Karnofsky and ECOG performance status scoring in lung cancer: A prospective, longitudinal study of 536 patients from a single institution. European Journal of Cancer, 32A, 11351141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, M.L. (2003). Pain and hope in patients with cancer. Cancer Nursing, 26, 6167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chi, G.C.-H.-L. (2007). The role of hope in patients with cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum, 34, 415424.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J. (1994). The earth is round (p < 0.05). American Psychologist, 49, 9971003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dufault, K. & Martocchio, B.C. (1985). Symposium on compassionate care and the dying experience. Hope: Its spheres and dimensions. Nursing Clinics of North America, 20, 379391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duggleby, W.D., Degner, L., Williams, A., et al. (2007). Living with hope: Initial evaluation of a psychosocial hope intervention for older palliative home care patients. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 33, 247257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebright, P.R. & Lyon, B. (2002). Understanding hope and factors that enhance hope in women with breast cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum, 29, 561568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ger, L.P., Ho, S.T., Sun, W.Z., Wang, M.S. & Cleeland, C.S. (1999). Validation of the Brief Pain Inventory in a Taiwanese population. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 18, 316322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, P.R. (1999). Hope in multiple chemical sensitivity: Social support and attitude towards healthcare delivery as predictors of hope. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 8, 275283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herth, K. (1992). Abbreviated instrument to measure hope: Development and psychometric evaluation. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 17, 12511259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herth, K. (2000). Enhancing hope in people with a first recurrence of cancer. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32, 14311441.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herth, K.A. & Cutcliffe, J.R. (2002). The concept of hope in nursing 3: Hope and palliative care nursing. British Journal of Nursing, 11, 977983.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holtan, A., Aass, N., Nordoy, T., et al. (2007). Prevalence of pain in hospitalised cancer patients in Norway: A national survey. Palliative Medicine, 21, 713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hsu, T.H., Lu, M.S., Tsou, T.S. & Lin, C.C. (2003). The relationship of pain, uncertainty, and hope among Taiwanese lung cancer patients. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 26, 835842.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karnofsky, D.A., Abelmann, W.H., Craver, L.F. et al. (1948). The use of nitrogen mustards in the palliative treatment of carcinoma. Cancer, 1, 648656.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klepstad, P., Loge, J.H., Borchgrevink, P.C., et al. (2002). The Norwegian brief pain inventory questionnaire: Translation and validation in cancer pain patients. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 24, 517525.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lai, Y.H., Chang, J.T., Keefe, F.J., et al. (2003). Symptom distress, catastrophic thinking, and hope in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Cancer Nursing, 26, 485493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, C.C., Lai, Y.L. & Ward, S.E. (2003 a). Effect of cancer pain on performance status, mood states, and level of hope among Taiwanese cancer patients. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 25, 2937.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lin, C.C., Tsai, H.F., Chiou, J.F., et al. (2003 b). Changes in levels of hope after diagnostic disclosure among Taiwanese patients with cancer. Cancer Nursing, 26, 155160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lydick, E., Epstein, R.S., Himmelberger, D. et al. (1995). Area under the curve: A metric for patient subjective responses in episodic diseases. Quality of Life Research, 4, 4145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McPherson, C.J., Wilson, K.G. & Murray, M.A. (2007). Feeling like a burden to others: A systematic review focusing on the end of life. Palliative Medicine, 21, 115128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mor, V., Laliberte, L., Morris, J.N., et al. (1984). The Karnofsky Performance Status Scale. An examination of its reliability and validity in a research setting. Cancer, 53, 20022007.3.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowotny, M. (1991). Every tomorrow, a vision of hope. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology, 9, 117127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osse, B.H., Vernooij-Dassen, M.J., Schade, E., et al. (2005). The problems experienced by patients with cancer and their needs for palliative care. Supportive Care and Cancer, 13, 722732.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reb, A.M. (2007). Transforming the death sentence: Elements of hope in women with advanced ovarian cancer. Oncology Nursing Forum, 34, E7081.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rustoen, T., Howie, J., Eidsmo, I., et al. (2005). Hope in patients hospitalized with heart failure. American Journal of Critical Care, 14, 417425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rustoen, T., Wahl, A.K., Hanestad, B.R., et al. (2003). Hope in the general Norwegian population, measured using the Herth Hope Index. Palliative and Supportive Care, 1, 309318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanatani, M., Schreier, G. & Stitt, L. (2008). Level and direction of hope in cancer patients: An exploratory longitudinal study. Supportive Care in Cancer, 16, 493499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schag, C.C., Heinrich, R.L. & Ganz, P.A. (1984). Karnofsky performance status revisited: Reliability, validity, and guidelines. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2, 187193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, C.E., Bode, R., Repucci, N., et al. (2006). The clinical significance of adaptation to changing health: A meta-analysis of response shift. Quality of Life Research, 15, 15331550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, C.E. & Sprangers, M.A. (1999). Methodological approaches for assessing response shift in longitudinal health-related quality-of-life research. Social Science and Medicine, 48, 15311548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strang, P. (1997). Existential consequences of unrelieved cancer pain. Palliative Medicine, 11, 299305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wahl, A.K., Rustoen, T., Lerdal, A., et al. (2004). The Norwegian version of the Herth Hope Index (HHI-N): A psychometric study. Palliative and Supportive Care, 2, 255263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westerman, M.J., The, A.M., Sprangers, M.A., et al. (2007). Small-cell lung cancer patients are just ‘a little bit’ tired: Response shift and self-presentation in the measurement of fatigue. Quality of Life Research, 16, 853861.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed