Pain rating scales for older people with severe dementia: Which is the best for nurses to use?

The overall aim of the study is to be able to recommend to nurses supporting older people with severe dementia a validated and clinically useful methodology to assess pain symptoms. Identification of a suitable pain rating scale that may be used in the Australian context is essential for accurate symptom assessment and management. A reliable and valid tool will provide better understanding of the older person with dementia and maximize the ability of nurses to better manage the care for older people with dementia in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). The research question is: Which is the best pain rating scale for nurses to use for older people with severe dementia?

This is an important question to answer because many nurses caring for older people with dementia in RACFs do not have the time or the necessary skill to explore this issue themselves. The specific objectives of the study are to provide further validation of the Abbey Pain Scale (APS) (Abbey et al 2004), the Doloplus-2 (Wary et al 1999) and the Checklist of Non-Verbal Pain Indicators (CNPI) (Feldt 2000). Two main steps will be undertaken for this research project. Firstly, a psychometric validation will ensure that the pain rating scales measure the same way each time they are used and that the scales measure what they are intended to measure (reliability and validity, respectively). Secondly, the feasibility and clinical usefulness of the scales will be assessed by nurses working with older people with severe dementia in RACFs.
Chief Investigator(s):
Dr Christine Neville
Investigator(s):
Kerry Neale
Funded By:
The University of Queensland
Project Commencement Date:
May 2008
Duration of Project: 12 months

 

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