The effect of sense of coherence on coping with pain in geriatric individuals with chronic disease

Objective: This descriptive study was conducted to examinethe strategies to cope with pain, the sense of coherence, and the effect of the sense of coherence on coping with pain in elderly patients with chronic disease Method: The Ethics Committee approval was obtained for the study. The sample of the study consisted of 250 patients aged 65 years and over who were hospitalized in a university hospital between April-July 2017. Personal Information Form prepared by the researchers, Assessment Form for Pain Diagnosis and Coping Methods, and Sense of Coherence (Integrity) Scale (SOC -13) were used in the study. It took averagely 30 minutes to collect the data by using face-to-face interview technique. Number-percentage, chi-square test, t-test, anova analysis of variance were used to assess the data. Results: Their average age was 72.4±6.65. 50.8% of the elderly were male, 70.8% had a high income. 77.6%of the elderly were using non-opioid analgesics. While 53.6% of the elderly had a continuous pain, 46.4% had an intermittent pain. Ways of coping with pain by the elderly were as follows;going to the doctor, (73.6%), using analgesics (78.4%), hot-cold application (26%), massage (50%), relaxation (82%), and distraction (26%). In the elderly, the acceptable range of pain was 7.4 ± 2.05, its current level was 4.35 ± 3.17, its worst level was 9.35 ± 1.32, and its least severity was 1.78 ± 2.15. The elderly women were better to express verbally pain (p<0.05) and their pain behavior was more nervous than the men. The mean score of the elderly for sense of coherence was 51.75 ± 7.69, and their median coherence score was 51. Therefore, having low and high coherence was calculated over this value. Whilethe values of ≤ 51 were named as low coherence score, the values of > 51 were named as high coherence score. Conclusions: The level of coherence was found to be equal in the elderly in the study (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between pain levels and coherence scores (p>0.05). Keywords: Pain, Coping, Nursing, Sense of Coherence, Elderly.