Journal of pain and symptom management
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2013
Functional impairments as symptoms in the symptom cluster analysis of patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer.
Symptoms and subsequent functional impairment have been associated with the biological processes of disease, including the interaction between disease and treatment in a measurement model of symptoms. However, hitherto cluster analysis has primarily focused on symptoms. ⋯ Functional impairments in patients newly diagnosed with late-stage cancers behave as symptoms during the diagnostic phase. Health care providers need to expand their assessments to include both symptoms and functional impairments. Early recognition of functional changes may accelerate diagnosis at an earlier cancer stage.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Oct 2013
The interaction of persistent pain and post-traumatic re-experiencing: a qualitative study in torture survivors.
There are limited studies and few theoretical models addressing the interaction between pain and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, with none concerning this interaction in survivors of torture, who frequently report persistent pain. ⋯ The results suggest that the relationship between pain and re-experiencing requires a broad model that considers the impact of a range of individual, social, and environmental factors on the interaction between pain and traumatic stress symptoms in survivors of torture. The study has clinical implications, most notably the need to attempt more integrated treatment of pain and traumatic symptoms where they occur together, and to consider the meaning and impact of pain when treating survivors of torture. Further investigation of the relationship between pain and traumatic stress symptoms in torture survivors is needed, as are studies of combined treatment for pain and trauma.