Exploring communication in families affected by parental chronic pain: An occupational perspective.

Background: Family communication about pain is an important therapeutic target when a parent lives with chronic pain. Occupational therapy literature about communication in families affected by parental chronic pain is currently lacking. Aims/Objectives: To bring an occupational perspective to communication within families affected by parental chronic pain, to generate insights for practice. Materials and Methods: Five families (total n=19 family members) were recruited into this collective case study. The gathered data included interviews, observations, and personal documents/artefacts. A cross-case analysis of similarities and differences between families was conducted to distil insights about the relationship between occupation and communication about parental pain. Results: Each family develops its own style of communicating about a parent's pain. On a day-to-day basis, pain-related communication is prompted by experienced, observed and/or anticipated occupational disruption brought about by parental pain. Conclusions: Occupational disruption and occupational responses need to be components of interest, when designing assessments and interventions targeted at communication in families affected by parental chronic pain. Significance: The findings from this study point to the importance of communication through occupation in families affected by parental chronic pain and suggest novel targets for occupational therapy intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]