Abstract
Abstract : An alternative to suffering from pain has been suicide. The chronic pain of a palliative patient, that is not managed effectively, does not only impact the human rights of the person but is seen as cruel and degrading according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Ineffective pain management is usually due to a lack of knowledge, misconceptions and fears on the part of health care workers. Morphine is a drug of choice in the management of chronic pain although there might be some misconceptions regarding its use and fear of side effects, tolerance, addiction and litigation of overprescribing. The purpose of this case study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of a chronic pain palliative care patient who is on Morphine analgesia. As this was a case study with Mr X the main unit of analysis, further embedded units of analysis (significant others) were Mr X’s mother, brother, and colleague. The interview question with the significant others was based on their experiences of Mr X while on Morphine as an analgesia. This was a qualitative explorative, descriptive and contextual case study of Mr X. A phenomenological approach was used to explore Mr X’s experience about his pain and pain management. The data collection method involved six in-depth individual interviews with Mr X and his significant others at different times of the day which was convenient for the participant. The interviews maintained a central question around Mr X’s experiences of using Morphine as an analgesia. The question asked during the interview was: “How is it for you to be on the morphine for your pain?” Data were analysed according to Tesch’s open coding as described by Creswell. Ethical standards were adhered to in accordance to the principles set out in Dhai and McQuoid-Mason. Trustworthiness was ensured through the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability, according to Lincoln and Guba. Two themes emerged from the case study; that of Mr X’s experience before Morphine analgesic and how this effected his physical and psychosocial wellbeing with poor vi quality of life. The second theme was the effects of Morphine analgesia and how the management of his pain improved his physical and psychosocial wellbeing and improved his quality of life. Mr X’s experience might assist health care professionals to gain better insight into the experiences of a palliative patient in need of Morphine as an analgesia to treat chronic pain.
M.Cur. (Community Nursing Sciences)