Background: In the sub-Saharan African countries, cancer pain is a widespread and intractable problem that has a major impact on the quality of life of patients with cancer and their relatives. For many patients, cancer causes a series of symptoms, where pain is one of those that, according to research, affects the patient negatively in several ways. Purpose: The purpose of the literature review was to compile literature on pain in patients with cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Method: A general literature study based on a systematic method of analyzing data (Popenoe et al., 2021). Searches have taken place in databases of scientific articles and 13 articles with a qualitative, quantitative and banded design have been included. Results: A compilation of the results yielded four themes: Occurrence of pain, Pain assessment instruments, Medicines, CAM and alternative treatment methods and Impact on daily life. The studies show that patients with cancer report a lot of pain and that assessment tools are used very rarely. In addition to this, drugs for pain are difficult to obtain. Alternative treatment methods are common and pain is strongly associated with anxiety, depression and negative impact on quality of life. Conclusion: Patients with cancer in sub-Saharan Africa report a lot of pain, which has a major impact on daily life. A number of obstacles to optimal pain relief have been identified and several studies have been conducted on these obstacles. Solutions exist, but the process is complicated by laws, financial priorities, the ignorance of the healthcare staff and availability of pain medication. Education of healthcare professionals, overview of laws and local regulations and increased availability of pain medication can improve the pain problem and increase the quality of life for patients with cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-505911 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Lundblad, Linda, Hurst Tillman, Rebecka |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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