Involvement of families in pain control of terminally ill patients.

Pain associated with terminal illness is an extremely stressful problem for the patient as well as family members. Helping family members cope increases their effectiveness as caregivers and improves their own quality of life. Conversely, improving the patient's ability to cope decreases stress on other family members. Optimal treatment of pain in the terminally ill may be conceptualized and administered from a family perspective. Methods for helping families of terminal pain patients cope are organized around a theme of enhancing feelings of control and self-efficacy. Control over pain and related problems may be maximized by providing education, improving decision making and assertiveness skills, and by teaching specific techniques for pain and stress management, including proper analgesic use, progressive relaxation, imagery, distraction techniques, and time management. These techniques are described from a family perspective in this paper.