Pain of Elderly People who Spent Their Terminal Stage at Home: From a Research on Pain Expressed to Visiting Nurses

Abstract

A research by semi-structured interviews was conducted on visiting nurses afiiliated with a home nursing station to clarify the pain of elderly people who spent their terminal stage at home. lt was found that 22 of 62 patients （35.5%） told the visiting nurses that they had “pain from causes other than physical pain” The extracted “pain other than physical pain” was expressed in 39 codes, which were divided into 4 categories and 10 subcategories, depending on the meaning. lt was established that those aged patients who spent their final moments at home experienced “pain related to the physical conditions,” “pain concerning their relationships with others,” “pain related to life and death” and “pain concerning life．” lt is important that visiting nurses assume a sincere attitude in dealing with aged patients who are spending their last moments at home so that the latter may feel free to express the pain that they feel, try to understand what is meant, and reduce this pain if at all possible．