A meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real'
Aim: To review systematically and integrate the findings of qualitative research to increase our understanding of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain. Background: Chronic pelvic pain is a prevalent pain condition with a high disease burden for men and women. Its multifactorial nature m...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Blackwell Publishing Ltd
2014
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| _version_ | 1797080911083208704 |
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| author | Toye, F Seers, K Barker, K |
| author_facet | Toye, F Seers, K Barker, K |
| author_sort | Toye, F |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Aim: To review systematically and integrate the findings of qualitative research to increase our understanding of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain. Background: Chronic pelvic pain is a prevalent pain condition with a high disease burden for men and women. Its multifactorial nature makes it challenging for clinicians and patients. Design: Synthesis of qualitative research using meta-ethnography. Data Sources: Five electronic bibliographic databases from inception until March 2014 supplemented by citation tracking. Of 488 papers retrieved, 32 met the review aim. Review Methods: Central to meta-ethnography is identifying 'concepts' and developing a conceptual model through constant comparison. Concepts are the primary data of meta-ethnography. Two team members read each paper to identify and collaboratively describe the concepts. We next compared concepts across studies and organized them into categories with shared meaning. Finally, we developed a conceptual model, or line of argument, to explain the conceptual categories. Results: Our findings incorporate the following categories into a conceptual model: relentless and overwhelming pain; threat to self; unpredictability, struggle to construct pain as normal or pathological; a culture of secrecy; validation by diagnosis; ambiguous experience of health care; elevation of experiential knowledge and embodiment of knowledge through a community. Conclusion: The innovation of our model is to demonstrate, for the first time, the central struggle to construct 'pathological' vs. 'normal' chronic pelvic pain, a struggle that is exacerbated by a culture of secrecy. More research is needed to explore men's experience and to compare this with women's experience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:07:02Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:8bb3420a-98b0-4efc-b811-fdcc15befef6 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:07:02Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Blackwell Publishing Ltd |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:8bb3420a-98b0-4efc-b811-fdcc15befef62022-03-26T22:39:45ZA meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real'Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:8bb3420a-98b0-4efc-b811-fdcc15befef6EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordBlackwell Publishing Ltd2014Toye, FSeers, KBarker, KAim: To review systematically and integrate the findings of qualitative research to increase our understanding of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain. Background: Chronic pelvic pain is a prevalent pain condition with a high disease burden for men and women. Its multifactorial nature makes it challenging for clinicians and patients. Design: Synthesis of qualitative research using meta-ethnography. Data Sources: Five electronic bibliographic databases from inception until March 2014 supplemented by citation tracking. Of 488 papers retrieved, 32 met the review aim. Review Methods: Central to meta-ethnography is identifying 'concepts' and developing a conceptual model through constant comparison. Concepts are the primary data of meta-ethnography. Two team members read each paper to identify and collaboratively describe the concepts. We next compared concepts across studies and organized them into categories with shared meaning. Finally, we developed a conceptual model, or line of argument, to explain the conceptual categories. Results: Our findings incorporate the following categories into a conceptual model: relentless and overwhelming pain; threat to self; unpredictability, struggle to construct pain as normal or pathological; a culture of secrecy; validation by diagnosis; ambiguous experience of health care; elevation of experiential knowledge and embodiment of knowledge through a community. Conclusion: The innovation of our model is to demonstrate, for the first time, the central struggle to construct 'pathological' vs. 'normal' chronic pelvic pain, a struggle that is exacerbated by a culture of secrecy. More research is needed to explore men's experience and to compare this with women's experience. |
| spellingShingle | Toye, F Seers, K Barker, K A meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real' |
| title | A meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real' |
| title_full | A meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real' |
| title_fullStr | A meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real' |
| title_full_unstemmed | A meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real' |
| title_short | A meta-ethnography of patients' experiences of chronic pelvic pain: Struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as 'real' |
| title_sort | meta ethnography of patients experiences of chronic pelvic pain struggling to construct chronic pelvic pain as real |
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