Shelly Ashkenazy1, Freda DeKeyser Ganz2. 1. Henrietta Szold School of Nursing, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. Electronic address: shellyashkenazy@gmail.com. 2. Henrietta Szold School of Nursing, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Discomfort is a concept found in the literature, usually related to pain. Some sources do not distinguish between pain and discomfort. Others refer to different sources of discomfort, thereby leading to a lack of conceptual clarity. AIMS: The objective of this paper was to present a concept analysis of discomfort. Full-text articles published between 1970 and 2016 in English were used to inform the concept analysis. DESIGN: Articles were taken from CINAHL, Medline and PsycNET databases. METHODS: A total of 7,406 articles and 120 abstracts were identified for evaluation. After initial review, 42 articles were further analyzed. Two reviewers independently evaluated the selected publications using the Walker and Avant approach to concept analysis. RESULTS: Discomfort can be physical or psychological and is characterized by an unpleasant feeling resulting in a natural response of avoidance or reduction of the source of the discomfort. Pain is one of the causes for discomfort, but not every discomfort can be attributed to pain. It is identified by self-report or observation. Discomfort in noncommunicative patients is assessed and measured via behavioral expression, also used to describe pain and agitation, leading to discomfort being interpreted as pain in some conditions. CONCLUSIONS: A clarification of the concept of discomfort leads to a more accurate theoretical and operational definition. This clarification can help nurses to make more accurate nursing diagnoses and develop methods to measure discomfort in order to provide optimal quality of nursing care.
BACKGROUND: Discomfort is a concept found in the literature, usually related to pain. Some sources do not distinguish between pain and discomfort. Others refer to different sources of discomfort, thereby leading to a lack of conceptual clarity. AIMS: The objective of this paper was to present a concept analysis of discomfort. Full-text articles published between 1970 and 2016 in English were used to inform the concept analysis. DESIGN: Articles were taken from CINAHL, Medline and PsycNET databases. METHODS: A total of 7,406 articles and 120 abstracts were identified for evaluation. After initial review, 42 articles were further analyzed. Two reviewers independently evaluated the selected publications using the Walker and Avant approach to concept analysis. RESULTS: Discomfort can be physical or psychological and is characterized by an unpleasant feeling resulting in a natural response of avoidance or reduction of the source of the discomfort. Pain is one of the causes for discomfort, but not every discomfort can be attributed to pain. It is identified by self-report or observation. Discomfort in noncommunicative patients is assessed and measured via behavioral expression, also used to describe pain and agitation, leading to discomfort being interpreted as pain in some conditions. CONCLUSIONS: A clarification of the concept of discomfort leads to a more accurate theoretical and operational definition. This clarification can help nurses to make more accurate nursing diagnoses and develop methods to measure discomfort in order to provide optimal quality of nursing care.
Authors: Søren Saxmose Nielsen; Julio Alvarez; Dominique Joseph Bicout; Paolo Calistri; Elisabetta Canali; Julian Ashley Drewe; Bruno Garin-Bastuji; Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas; Christian Gortázar Schmidt; Virginie Michel; Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca; Barbara Padalino; Paolo Pasquali; Helen Clare Roberts; Hans Spoolder; Karl Stahl; Antonio Velarde; Arvo Viltrop; Christoph Winckler; Bernadette Earley; Sandra Edwards; Luigi Faucitano; Sonia Marti; Genaro C Miranda de La Lama; Leonardo Nanni Costa; Peter T Thomsen; Sean Ashe; Lina Mur; Yves Van der Stede; Mette Herskin Journal: EFSA J Date: 2022-09-07
Authors: Søren Saxmose Nielsen; Julio Alvarez; Dominique Joseph Bicout; Paolo Calistri; Elisabetta Canali; Julian Ashley Drewe; Bruno Garin-Bastuji; Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas; Christian Gortázar Schmidt; Virginie Michel; Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca; Barbara Padalino; Paolo Pasquali; Helen Clare Roberts; Hans Spoolder; Karl Stahl; Antonio Velarde; Arvo Viltrop; Christoph Winckler; Bernadette Earley; Sandra Edwards; Luigi Faucitano; Sonia Marti; Genaro C Miranda de La Lama; Leonardo Nanni Costa; Peter T Thomsen; Sean Ashe; Lina Mur; Yves Van der Stede; Mette Herskin Journal: EFSA J Date: 2022-09-07
Authors: Søren Saxmose Nielsen; Julio Alvarez; Dominique Joseph Bicout; Paolo Calistri; Elisabetta Canali; Julian Ashley Drewe; Bruno Garin-Bastuji; Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas; Christian Gortázar Schmidt; Virginie Michel; Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca; Barbara Padalino; Paolo Pasquali; Helen Clare Roberts; Hans Spoolder; Karl Stahl; Antonio Velarde; Arvo Viltrop; Christoph Winckler; Bernadette Earley; Sandra Edwards; Luigi Faucitano; Sonia Marti; Genaro C Miranda de La Lama; Leonardo Nanni Costa; Peter T Thomsen; Sean Ashe; Lina Mur; Yves Van der Stede; Mette Herskin Journal: EFSA J Date: 2022-09-07
Authors: Søren Saxmose Nielsen; Julio Alvarez; Dominique Joseph Bicout; Paolo Calistri; Elisabetta Canali; Julian Ashley Drewe; Bruno Garin-Bastuji; Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas; Christian Gortázar Schmidt; Virginie Michel; Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca; Barbara Padalino; Paolo Pasquali; Helen Clare Roberts; Hans Spoolder; Karl Stahl; Antonio Velarde; Arvo Viltrop; Christoph Winckler; Bernadette Earley; Sandra Edwards; Luigi Faucitano; Sonia Marti; Genaro C Miranda de La Lama; Leonardo Nanni Costa; Peter T Thomsen; Sean Ashe; Lina Mur; Yves Van der Stede; Mette Herskin Journal: EFSA J Date: 2022-09-07
Authors: Søren Saxmose Nielsen; Julio Alvarez; Dominique Joseph Bicout; Paolo Calistri; Elisabetta Canali; Julian Ashley Drewe; Bruno Garin-Bastuji; Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas; Gortázar Schmidt; Mette Herskin; Virginie Michel; Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca; Olaf Mosbach-Schulz; Barbara Padalino; Helen Clare Roberts; Karl Stahl; Antonio Velarde; Arvo Viltrop; Christoph Winckler; Sandra Edwards; Sonya Ivanova; Christine Leeb; Beat Wechsler; Chiara Fabris; Eliana Lima; Olaf Mosbach-Schulz; Yves Van der Stede; Marika Vitali; Hans Spoolder Journal: EFSA J Date: 2022-08-25
Authors: Søren Saxmose Nielsen; Julio Alvarez; Dominique Joseph Bicout; Paolo Calistri; Elisabetta Canali; Julian Ashley Drewe; Bruno Garin-Bastuji; Jose Luis Gonzales Rojas; Christian Gortázar Schmidt; Mette Herskin; Miguel Ángel Miranda Chueca; Virginie Michel; Barbara Padalino; Paolo Pasquali; Helen Clare Roberts; Hans Spoolder; Karl Stahl; Antonio Velarde; Arvo Viltrop; Sandra Edwards; Sean Ashe; Denise Candiani; Chiara Fabris; Eliana Lima; Olaf Mosbach-Schulz; Cristina Rojo Gimeno; Yves Van der Stede; Marika Vitali; Christoph Winckler Journal: EFSA J Date: 2022-07-12
Authors: Martha Funabashi; Simon Wang; Alexander D Lee; Felipe C K Duarte; Brian Budgell; Peter Stilwell; Sheilah Hogg-Johnson Journal: BMC Musculoskelet Disord Date: 2022-03-24 Impact factor: 2.362