Pain and Pain Management in Austrian Nursing Home Residents' Daily Lives: A Qualitative Study Guided by an Integrated Quality of Life Model for Older Adults.
Eva Pichler, Doris Eglseer, Daniela Schoberer and 3 others
PMID 41981986WHAT IT FOUND
Nursing home residents often hide their pain to avoid being a burden, viewing it as whining.
They perceive staff as too rushed and unskilled to help beyond medication. This leads to residents self-managing pain alone, creating a gap between what they need and what they receive.
Key findings
01Residents frequently refrain from reporting pain to staff because they fear being a burden or view complaining as 'whining'.
02Residents perceive nursing staff as lacking time and skills, believing staff primarily address pain with medication only.
03There is little collaboration on pain management; residents self-manage with non-drug strategies while staff focus on medication.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was conducted in a single nursing home, limiting generalizability. Participants were mostly women, so male perspectives may be underrepresented. Residents with severe cognitive impairment were excluded, meaning findings do not apply to this group. Convenience sampling was used, which may introduce selection bias. Reliance on self-report for past pain experiences may be subject to recall bias.
Declared interests
The work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that residents who do not report pain are pain-free. The study shows that many residents actively hide their pain to avoid being a burden or because they believe staff are too busy or unskilled to help. Silence is not evidence of comfort.