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Background/Objectives: Pain is a complex and subjective experience influenced by psychological, cultural, and social factors. This study aims to investigate how social perceptions of pain affect the lived experiences and coping mechanisms of individuals suffering from pain. By comparing public discourse with the experiences of sufferers, we explore whether the social legitimacy of pain influences how it is managed. Methods: A multi-phase qualitative study was conducted, comprising eight focus groups with members of the Spanish general population and 19 in-depth interviews with individuals suffering from various types of pain. The focus groups explored social perceptions of pain's legitimacy, while the interviews delved into the sufferers' personal experiences. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns and disparities between public discourse and individual narratives. Results: The focus groups revealed widespread social empathy towards all types of pain. However, interviewees reported significant social pressure to normalize their behavior and downplay their pain. Many felt misunderstood, unsupported, and stigmatized, especially in environments where they held subordinate roles, such as the workplace or healthcare settings. Sufferers often resorted to silence or isolation to avoid judgment. Conclusions: While Spanish society outwardly legitimizes all forms of pain, sufferers experience significant discrepancies between public empathy and actual social support. The findings suggest that raising awareness alone is insufficient, and that structural changes are needed to address the daily burdens that individuals face when coping with pain, particularly in workplace and healthcare environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Medical residents play two roles that enter into conflict during their educational period: trainees and workers. This dual role can lead to dissatisfaction among residents that can affect both the quality of the services they provide to citizens and the proper functioning of the health services model itself. Aim: To analyse discrepancies between the preferences and expectations of first-year medical residents and whether these differences affect satisfaction with the residency. Method: A questionnaire was administered on-line to the entire population of first-year medical residents of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia (Spain) in 2008. We performed a means contrast test between the indicator discrepancy (difference between preferences and expectations during the residency as a training or a working period), overall satisfaction with the residency and their relationship to other expectations of medical residents. Results: Respondents showing greater discrepancy have a more negative opinion about the residency. Conclusion: There is a gap between what residents prefer and what they expect from the residency, giving rise to dissatisfaction. This gap must be bridged to improve the quality of training received by these new physicians, their satisfaction and hence the delivery of health services to citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To analyze how the overall satisfaction of users of the Andalusian Public Health Service varies according to their level of satisfaction with the different dimensions and specific aspects of the service. Materials and Methods. Data stem from the Primary Care Services User Survey conducted in 2005 as part of a larger research project regarding user satisfaction with the Andalusian Public Health Service. The methodology was to establish a compound variable for Global satisfaction from three initial satisfaction measurements found in the survey and to reduce 23 indicators for partial satisfaction to three satisfaction dimensions in order to analyze the existing relationship between them. Results. The level of satisfaction with the dimension called the "organizational aspects of the service" best reflects the increase or decrease in the users' Global satisfaction level. Users' satisfaction with "medical services received" as well as the "state of the amenities" has less of an impact on the level of Global satisfaction. Conclusions. Once a high level of satisfaction with the medical services is attained, the organization is the dimension that most determines the level of Global satisfaction with Primary Care services because this dimension contains factors that reflect the highest levels of dissatisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute further research on the conceptualization of individual financial satisfaction as a particular domain of satisfaction with life as a whole. Based on the 2003 Survey on Living Conditions and Poverty for Andalucía (Spain) and using a self-reported measure of welfare, ordered probit models are used to analyze the extent to which individual financial satisfaction can be solely explained by income in absolute terms, or alternatively, by taking into account the importance of relative income in its two dimensions: (1) personal aspirations as individual’s adaptation to previous and future income levels (intra-individual comparisons), and (2) social comparisons as individual’s concern for her peer’s income (inter-personal dependency). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Assess whether the universalization of epidural analgesia supplied in hospitals of the Andalusia Public Health Service (SSPA) has ended up with the inequalities shown in previous studies regarding to their demand: the percentage of women who rejected epidural analgesia was higher among the users having low educational level, lower income and working as housekeeper., Method: The data are based on satisfaction surveys conducted by the Institute for Advanced Social Studies amongst of SSPA users. This survey includes a section aimed at women attended in labor (N = 21,300). The hierarchical segmentation analysis shows which variables are the ones that discriminate most in the usage of epidural analgesia. Subsequently, through a model of binary logistic regression we analyze which socio-demographic variables are significant (2012) and how its impact is on the choice of epidural analgesia in childbirth., Results: Overall, the socio-demographic variables of the users are statistically significant in the demand or not of epidural analgesia during labor. However, the detailed analysis of the last year (2012) shows that none of the socio-demographic variables introduced in the model has a significant effect on the decision of using epidural analgesia., Conclusions: The process of universalization of epidural anesthesia in childbirth has ended with social inequalities in their use, that is, with those differences that are not due to a real choice but are induced by socio-cultural characteristics of women., (Copyright © 2018 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyse differences in the satisfaction of health service users associated with the sex of the attending doctor., Material and Methods: Data obtained from the Primary Care Services User Survey (2005), part of a project regarding user satisfaction with the Andalusian Public Health Services. A bivariate analysis was conducted, the two variables being doctors sex and user satisfaction, as was an ANOVA, taking as a dependent variable the indicator of general satisfaction and as independent variables the characteristics of the individual and that of the system, including physician sex., Results: In the bivariate analysis a relation was confirmed between doctors sex and satisfaction with the components of the health service received. Nevertheless, this influence disappears in the analysis of dependence, which includes sociodemographic and system variables., Conclusion: Differences between practices by male and female doctors are confirmed, but not the differences in general satisfaction with the service received.