Determining pain in patients with voice disorders: a qualitative study

Abstract

Aim

The present study aimed to determine pain in patients with voice disorders (PWVDs).

Patients and methods

A total number of 28 patients with a range of voice disorders and without any other diseases participated in the study. To gain maximum variation, purposive sampling method was used. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were employed for data collection. The interviews were then continued until data saturation was reached, and the data were subsequently recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative content analysis was utilized for data analysis.

Results

Data analysis of the interviews emerged three themes about pain experienced by PWVDs. The emerged themes included location of pain, type of pain, and time of pain occurrence. In this respect, PWVDs reported pain in different locations on their body including head, ears, anterior neck, posterior neck, larynx, temporomandibular joint, submandibular area, shoulders, and upper back. Furthermore, chronic, acute, severe, and mild were the most common types of pain reported by PWVDs. The PWVDs also stated that they had experienced pain at different times, i.e. during speaking, after long-time speaking, after voice use, during swallowing, during palpation, and all the time (even at rest).

Conclusions

One of the physical discomforts experienced by PWVDs is pain. According to the results of the present study, pain should properly be considered in the assessment and treatment of PWVDs in clinical practices. Also, our study suggested that a specific scale is needed to measure pain in voice disorders.

Keywords:

• Pain
• voice disorders
• physical discomfort
• qualitative study

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the patients with voice disorders who voluntarily and eagerly took part in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Iran (IR.SEMUMS.REC.1397.240).

Additional information

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Semnan University of Medical Sciences [Grant Number 1506].

Notes on contributors

Seyed Abolfazl Tohidast

Seyed Abolfazl Tohidast obtained his PhD degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2018. He is interested in teaching and researching in the field of voice disorders, fluency disorders, and qualitative studies. Also, he has published some articles in the mentioned fields in international journals. He currently works as head of Speech Therapy department at the Semnan University of Medical Sciences.

Banafshe Mansuri

Banafshe Mansuri, in 2019, she obtained PhD degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Iran University of Medical Sciences. She is interested in teaching and researching in the field of voice disorders and has published some articles in this field in international journals. She currently works as an academic member at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Semnan University of Medical Sciences.

Rasool Bagheri

Rasool Bagheri, obtained his PhD degree in Physical Therapy from Iran University of Medical Sciences. He is interested in researching in the field of spine, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, and pain. He has published some articles in international journals. He currently works as an assistant professor at the Physical Therapy department of the Semnan University of Medical Sciences.

Hadi Azimi

Hadi Azimi obtained his PhD in English Language Teaching working on mainly qualitative studies. His PhD dissertation was an ethnography of English teachers' identity. He currently pursues his studies on teacher education and English for Specific Purposes at the School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran.