Qualitative research exposes and explores important aspects of the pain experience that are inaccessible to other approaches.
Qualitative work adopts a different epistemological and ontological perspective to quantitative work.
Qualitative research is not well established in the field of pain, but is growing.
More interpretative engagement with qualitative data is required.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
MelzackRWallP. The puzzle of pain. Penguin: London; 1963.
2.
MelzackRWallP. The challenge of pain. Penguin: London; 1988.
3.
CahanaA. Pain and philosophy of the mind. Pain: Clinical Updates2007; XV (5) 1–4.
4.
ConradP. The experience of illness: recent and new directions. Res Sociol Health Care1987;6:1–31.
5.
AshworthP. Conceptual foundations of qualitative psychology. In SmithJA. Qualitative psychology: a practical guide to research methods. Sage: London; 2008.
6.
MurrayMChamberlainK (editors). Qualitative health psychology: theories and models. Sage: London; 1999.
7.
KotarbaJA. Chronic pain: its social dimensions. London: Sage; 1983.
8.
CharmazK. Loss of self: a fundamental form of suffering in the chronically ill. Sociol Health Illn1983;5 (2): 168–95.
9.
BuryM. Chronic illness as biographical disruption. Sociol Health Illn1982;4 (2): 167–82.
10.
KugelmannR. The psychology and management of pain: gate control as theory and symbol. Theory Psychol1997;7 (1): 43–66.
11.
YardleyL. Dilemmas in qualitative health research. Psychol Health2000;15 (2): 215–28.
12.
YardleyL. Demonstrating validity in qualitative psychology. In SmithJA. Qualitative psychology: a practical guide to research methods. Sage: London; 2008.
13.
ElliotRFischerCRennieD. Evolving guidelines for publication of qualitative research studies in psychology and related fields. Br J Clin Psychol1999;38 (3): 215–29.
14.
JarrettNPayneSTurnerPHillierR. ‘Someone to talk to’ and ‘pain control’: what people expect from a specialist palliative care team. Palliat Med1999;13:139–44.
15.
MeghaniSKeaneA. Reference for analgesic treatment for cancer pain among African Americans. J Pain Symptom Manage2007;34 (2): 1236–47.
16.
RogersMSToddCJ. The ‘right kind of pain’: talking about symptoms in outpatient oncology consultations. Palliat Med2000;14 (4): 299–307.
17.
DihleABjølsethGHelsethS. The gap between saying and doing in post-operative pain management. J Clin Nurs2006;15 (4): 469–79.
18.
BerghIJakobssonESjöströmBSteenB. Ways of talking about experiences of pain among older patients following orthopaedic surgery. J Adv Nurs2005;52 (4): 351–9.
19.
FarmerSRoterDLHigginsonIJ. Chest pain: communication of symptoms and history in a London Emergency Department. Patient Educ Couns2006;63 (1–2): 138–44.
20.
OsbornMSmithJA. The personal experience of chronic benign lower back pain: an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Br J Health Psychol1998;3 (1): 65–83.
21.
CorbettMFosterNEOngBN. Living with low back pain - stories of hope and despair. Soc Sci Med2007;65 (8): 1584–94.
22.
SmithJAOsbornM. Pain as an assault on the self: an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Psychol Health2007;22 (5): 517–34.
23.
WernerAIsaksenLWMalterudK. ‘I am not the kind of woman who complains of everything: illness stories on self and shame in women with chronic pain’. Soc Sci Med2004;59 (5): 1035–45.
24.
WernerAMalterudK. It is hard work behaving as a credible patient: Encounters between women with chronic pain and their doctors. Soc Sci Med2003;57 (8): 1409–19.
25.
GustafssonMEkholmJOhmanA. From shame to respect: musculoskeletal pain patients' experience of a rehabilitation programme, a qualitative study. J Rehabil Med2004;36 (3): 97–103.
26.
HellstromC. Temporal dimensions of the self-concept: entrapped and possible selves in chronic pain. Psychol Health2001;16 (1): 111–24.
27.
HollowayISofaer-BennettBWalkerJ. The stigmatisation of people with chronic back pain. Disabil Rehabil2007;29 (18): 1456–64.
28.
MengshoelAMHeggenK. Recovery from fibromyalgia - previous patients' own experiences. Disabil Rehabil2004;26 (1): 46–53.
29.
WarwickRJosephSCordleCAshworthP. Social support for women with chronic pelvic pain: what is helpful from whom?Psychol Health2004;19 (1): 117–34.
30.
StruninLBodenLI. Family consequences of chronic back pain. Soc Sci Med2004;58 (7): 1385–93.
31.
RichardsonJCOngBNSimJ. Experiencing chronic widespread pain in a family context: giving and receiving practical and emotional support. Sociol Health Illn2007;29 (3): 347–65.
32.
SmithAAFriedemannML. Perceived family dynamics of persons with chronic pain. J Adv Nurs1999;30 (3): 543–51.
33.
WalkerJHollowayISofaerB. In the system: the lived experience of chronic back pain from the perspectives of those seeking help from pain clinics. Pain1999;80 (3): 621–8.
34.
BreenAAustinHCampion-SmithCCarrEMannE. “You feel so hopeless”: a qualitative study of GP management of acute back pain. Eur J Pain2007;11 (1): 21–9.
35.
MayCGayleAChappleAChew-GrahamCDixonCGaskLGrahamRRogersARolandM. Framing the doctor-patient relationship in chronic illness: a comparative study of general practitioners' accounts. Sociol Health Illn2004;26 (2): 135–58.
36.
SteihaugSAhlsenBMalterudK. From exercise and education to movement and interaction: treatment groups in primary care for women with chronic muscular pain. Scand J Prim Health Care2001;19 (4): 249–54.
37.
MalterudK. Understanding women in pain - new pathways suggested by Umea researchers: qualitative research and feminist perspectives. Scand J Prim Health Care1999;16 (4): 195–8.
38.
SteihaugSAhlsenBMalterudK. “I am allowed to be myself”: women with chronic muscular pain being recognized. Scand J Public Health2002;30 (4): 281–7.
39.
OngBNDunnKMCroftPR. “Since you're asking …”: free text commentaries in an epidemiological study of low back pain consulters in primary care. Qual Quant2006;40 (4): 651–9.
40.
WalkerJSofaerBHollowayI. The experience of chronic back pain: accounts of loss in those seeking help from pain clinics. Eur J Pain2006;10 (3): 199–207.