Chronic pelvic pain portraits: perceptions and beliefs of 80 women

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Because of its expressive prevalence and difficult clinical management, chronic pelvic pain is an important cause of morbidity, disability, and reduction of quality of life in women. Psychological factors influence the perception of pain and can interfere in the medical approach, justifying the application of projective tools, such as the pain portrait, previously not applied in women with chronic pelvic pain. The objective of this study was to obtain a greater clarification about the psychological component in the assessment of the chronic pelvic pain by applying the pain portrait in women with chronic pelvic pain. METHODS: This is an exploratory cross-sectional study conducted with 80 women with chronic pelvic pain. It was applied a pre-structured interview to collect sociodemographic, behavioral and clinical data. The pain portrait was applied to investigate the perceptions and beliefs about pain. The drawings were classified by content analysis and consensus among the authors. RESULTS: The average age of the participants was 39.40±9.21 years, average pain intensity of 7.03±2.58 and average pain duration of 8.84±7.65 years. The main portraits referred to negative feelings (37.50%), harmful instruments (33.75%) and geometric forms (25%), with a predominance of cold colors (63.70%). More than 60% of the participants put hope only in medical procedures, while 25% believed that there was no solution to their pain. CONCLUSION: Women represented their chronic pelvic pain in an affective way, with the use of few and cold colors. They considered themselves having a passive role in their treatment and related their pain to family losses