Investigation of pain anxiety and methods of coping with pain in patients receiving service from migrant health centers

This research was carried out to examine the pain anxiety of patients and their methods of coping with pain. The sample of the study consisted of 518 patients who applied to three Migrant Health Centers and an Enhanced Migrant Health Center in Malatya between February and May 2022. The research is of descriptive type. Data were collected with a questionnaire consisting of 27 questions examining the sociodemographic characteristics of Syrian patients, coping with pain and the effect of anxiety on pain, and the Pain-Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS-20) Short Form. The analysis of the data in the research was carried out using the SPSS (Statistical Program in Social Sciences) 23 program. Data were evaluated with frequency, percentage, Mann Whitney U test for comparison of independent paired groups, and Kruskal Wallis H test for comparison of three or more independent groups. It was determined that 61.8% of the patients included in the study were female, 40.7% were primary school graduates, and their mean age was 36.10±12.88. Syrian patients who experience pain in some parts of their body often experience pain in the head and neck region (x2=10.80, p=0.030), the pain is very severe (x2=23.040, p<0.001), and culture is effective in coping with pain (z=26.550), p<0.001) and sleep was the most preferred non-pharmacological method (x2=19.070, p<0.001). The mean score of the patients from the pain anxiety symptoms scale was 47.61±17.74. This shows that the Syrian patients included in the study experience moderate pain anxiety. According to the results of this study, it is recommended to conduct information and awareness programs for Syrian patients in order to reduce the stress caused by pain in Syrian patients and to use the methods of coping with pain effectively. Keywords: Pain, Anxiety, Coping, Migrant Health Center