Hispanic Older Adults’ Osteoarthritis Pain Communication

Better understanding of how Hispanic older adults describe their chronic pain might suggest ways to support Hispanic older adults to talk about important pain information with their practitioner. The study aim was to describe how Hispanic older adults communicate pain information, including the amount of pain information and communication processes employed. A secondary analysis with a descriptive design was used. The data were from a larger primary study that tested the effect of practitioner pain question phrasing on the amount of pain information described by older adults with osteoarthritis pain. The sample for this secondary analysis was composed of the 24 Hispanic older adults with chronic osteoarthritis pain. In the primary study older adults watched and orally responded to a videotape of a practitioner asking about their pain. Pain content from the patient responses was content analyzed by two independent raters. Communication processes were also content analyzed by two independent raters using a priori criteria from communication accommodation theory (clarity, syntax, complexity, explicitness, and staying on topic). Participants described a mean of 5.5 (SD 3.39) items of pain information. The majority stayed on topic, and one-half spoke clearly and explicitly. Hispanic older adults with osteoarthritis pain concisely describe clinically important pain information when given the opportunity to do so.