Abstract
This study explored how people with learning disabilities understood and described pain. It investigated how participants described the general concept of pain, as well as specific types of pain. It also considered which forms of inquiry were most useful in enabling participants to describe specific types of pain, and included an evaluation of the use of pictures for pain. Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit the accounts of six women and five men with significant to severe intellectual impairment whose ages ranged from 32 to 75 years. Verbatim interview transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, 1996) and content analysis. Analysis revealed that although not all participants had an immediate answer to ‘what is pain?”, over the course of the interview pain and pain-related experiences were described, and these were consistently described in negative terms. There was a high level of inter-individual variability in the amount of description given. Participants’ responses were grouped into themes, and a number of themes corresponded with important information needed for medical diagnoses (eg. intensity/severity, type/nature, duration and location). It was unusual for participants to spontaneously provide terms for different pain types, but many were recognised when supplied by the researcher. There was no definitive form of inquiry which was most useful, however specific verbal prompting elicited the greatest number of descriptions. The findings were considered in relation to existing literature and to potential clinical implications. Methodological issues were also discussed. Specific suggestions for clinical practice were put forward, and directions for future research proposed.