Background & Aims
Chronic pain (CP) is a public health problem with great social impact. The coexistence of CP and mental health disorders is well-established in the literature. Also, there is evidence that the severity of CP symptomatology has a negative relationship with health literacy. The studies about the relationship between pain and mental health are considerably heterogeneous in the findings. Evidence supports the benefits of mental health literacy can be an effective mental health promotion strategy. Caregivers are highly overburdened, which negatively affects the physical condition and the psychological and mental states of caregivers. However, the literature on the relationship between pain and the mental health of formal caregivers is scarce. This study aims to descriptively characterize the mental health of formal caregivers, as well as their pain symptoms, following a biopsychosocial framework.
Methods
A cross-sectional study that used self-report instruments with sociodemographic data, mental health at work, mental health literacy, and Brief Pain Inventory – Short Form (BPI-SF). The BPI-SF was chosen due to its good reliability, validity, and sensitivity to detect, monitor and characterize pain in the Portuguese population. The ICD-11 classification of CP was used. Data collection was carried out in December 2023 at a daycare center and home support service in Portugal. The participants (N = 21) who agreed to participate, were formal caregivers of children between 3 months and 3 years of age or of independent elderly people or those with slight dependencies or instrumental support providers (eg: food, social support). The data was analyzed using SPSS 25th Edition for descriptive statistics. In the analysis, participants were divided into two groups (with CP and without CP), which were non-parametrically compared.
Results
All participants were women, with education ranging between the 4th year to complete higher education. Fourteen (66.5%) were married, and the mean age was M = 47.6 (SD = 9.9). Eleven (52.4%) were working with older adults, 17 (81%) had an open-ended or fixed-term contract, and they were working for an average of M = 14.8 years (SD = 10.6). Ten (47.6%) went to the orthopedist and physiotherapist. Five (23.8%) participants did not report a diagnosis of CP (ICD-11). There were no significant differences between the groups with and without CP. Except, in education. Twelve (75.0%) participants reported musculoskeletal pain and thirteen (81.3%) had headaches or orofacial pain. The results of the screening and assessment of the impact of pain showed that the mean values of the group without CP were not statistically different from the group with CP. All recognized the importance of mental health at work and were motivated to participate in an intervention on mental health literacy.
Conclusions
The use of ICD-11 made it possible to identify the group with and without CP through a tool that provides a broad healthcare vision. BPI-SF was useful for evaluating pain intensity and interference with the patient’s life from a multidimensional perspective, as well as comparing the two groups. This study seems to indicate the positive association of CP with lower education. There were no significant differences between groups with and without CP in other sociodemographic data, pain inventory and mental health. Therefore, participants who did not report a diagnosis of CP should be followed up. They may be beginning the process of physical and mental illness. Early diagnosis and intervention in specialized pain management are recommended to prevent complications.
References
Azevedo, L. F. C.-P., A.; Dias, C.; Agualusa, L.; Lemos, L.; Romão, J.; Patto, T.; Vaz Serra, S.; Abrunhosa, R.; Carvalho, C.J.; Cativo, M.C.; Correia, D.; Correia, J.; Coucelo, G.; Craveiro Lopes, B.; Loureiro, M.C.; Silva, B.; Castro-Lopes, J.M. (2007). Tradução, adaptação cultural e estudo multicêntrico de validação de instrumentos para rastreio e avaliação do impacto da dor crónica. Dor 15(4): 6-56 https://www.aped-dor.org/socios/material_bibliografico/diversos_Questionarios_Dor-Rev_DOR_Volume15-n4-2007.pdf
Cejalvo, E.; Martí-Vilar, M.; Merino-Soto, C.; & Aguirre-Morales, M. T. (2021). Caregiving Role and Psychosocial and Individual Factors: A Systematic Review. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 9(12), 1690. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9121690
Loke, Y. K., Hinz, I., Wang, X., Rowlands, G., Scott, D., & Salter, C. (2012). Impact of health literacy in patients with chronic musculoskeletal disease–systematic review. PloS one, 7(7), e40210. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040210
Meints, S. M., & Edwards, R. R. (2018). Evaluating psychosocial contributions to chronic pain outcomes. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 87(Pt B), 168–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2018.01.017
Sampaio, F., Gonçalves, P., & Sequeira, C. (2022). Mental health literacy: it is now time to put knowledge into practice. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(12), 7030. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127030
Treede, R. D., Rief, W., Barke, A., Aziz, Q., Bennett, M. I., Benoliel, R., Cohen, M., Evers, S., Finnerup, N. B., First, M. B., Giamberardino, M. A., Kaasa, S., Kosek, E., Lavand’homme, P., Nicholas, M., Perrot, S., Scholz, J., Schug, S., Smith, B. H., Svensson, P., … Wang, S. J. (2015). A classification of chronic pain for ICD-11. Pain, 156(6), 1003–1007. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000160 .
Presenting Author
Bárbara Ursine
Poster Authors
Bárbara Ursine
Ph.D. student
University of Coimbra, Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC)
Lead Author
Francisco Jose Lopes Junior
Adnan Menderes University
Lead Author
Sérgio Carvalho
Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC)
Lead Author
Maria da Luz Vale-Dias
University of Coimbra, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Lead Author
Topics
- Assessment and Diagnosis