Associations to pain and analgesics in Indian pain patients and health workers.

Aim: This study explores the attitudes toward analgesic therapy among persistent pain patients and health workers in palliative care in India.

Methods: Free word association was used and quantitative content analysis was performed.

Results: A total of 59 patients and 28 health workers participated. In total, 41% of the patients had <5/10 points on a pain scale. A total of 3733 associations were recovered. Personal associations were majorly coming from patients having negative connotation. Morphine produced few associations, especially among patients. Most of them were about pain relief and for patients about negative emotions.

Conclusion: Two types of knowledge were detectable, differing in quality and quantity. One was based on lived experience among patients; the other arose from scientific foundation among health workers.