Intercultural Communication About Pain

Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Multilingual Education book series (MULT, volume 24)

Abstract

As far as language and communication studies are concerned, pain is barely visible on the radar. It has received even less attention in the context of intercultural communication. And yet pain is universal. It is prominent among the causes why we visit the doctor. And its impact on the quality of life of pain sufferers, as well as on national economies, make it a topic of urgent interest: it highlights, in a particularly sharp perspective, some of the key issues currently facing intercultural communication, and specifically intercultural communication in Asia.

The purpose of this chapter is threefold: to present pain as a bona fide area of research in linguistics and communication studies, specifically in intercultural communication; to survey the current state of play of research into pain and communication; and to outline the implications of intercultural pain communication for the key themes of this volume, with special reference to Asia. Pain will be seen, as it is communicated by individuals in an internationalizing world, at the intersection of linguistic, cultural and value systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Access Economics. (2007). The high price of pain: The economic impact of persistent pain in Australia. http://www.bupa.com.au/staticfiles/BupaP3/Health%20and%20Wellness/MediaFiles/PDFs/MBF_Foundation_the_price_of_pain.pdf.
  2. Al-Harthy, M., Ohrbach, R., Michelotti, A., & List, T. (2015). The effect of culture on pain sensitivity. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation.  https://doi.org/10.1111/joor.12346.
  3. American Academy of Pain. Retrieved on July 8, 2017, from http://www.painmed.org/PatientCenter/Facts_on_Pain.aspx
  4. Asano-Cavanagh, Y. (2014). Japanese interpretations of “pain” and the use of psychomimes. International Journal of Language and Culture, 1(2), 216–238. Retrieved on 27 Jan 2017 from  http://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.1.2.05asa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Australian Bureau of Statistics. IBABS. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features20April+2013#p7.Google Scholar
  6. Barker, K. L., Reid, M., & Minns Lowe, C. J. (2009). Divided by a lack of common language? A qualitative study exploring the use of language by health professionals treating back pain. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 10, 123.  https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-10-123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Bennett, J. M. (Ed.). (2015). The SAGE encyclopedia of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
  8. Biro, D. (2010). The language of pain: Finding words, compassion, and relief. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
  9. Bourke, J. (2012). The art of medicine: The language of pain. The Lancet, 379, 2420–2421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Bourke, J. (2014). The story of pain: From prayer to painkillers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  11. Boyle, G. J. (2003). El cuestionario del dolor de McGill (McGill Pain Questionnaire – MPQ): consideraciones lingüïsticas y estadísticas. Revista de Psicología de La Universidad de Chile, 12, 111–119.Google Scholar
  12. Brady, B., Veljanova, I., & Chipchase, L. (2016). Are multidisciplinary interventions multicultural? A topical review of the pain literature as it relates to culturally diverse patient groups. Pain, 157(2), 321–328. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Butler, D. S., & Moseley, L. G. (2013). Explain pain (2nd ed.). Adelaide: Noigroup Publications.Google Scholar
  14. Canagarajah, S. (2007). Lingua Franca English, multilingual communities, and language acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 91, 932–939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Chen, Y.-Y., Tsai, S.-L., Yang, C.-W., Ni, Y.-H., & Chang, S.-C. (2013). The ongoing westernization of East Asian biomedical ethics in Taiwan. Social Science & Medicine, 78, 125–129.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.12.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Clark, H. H. (2009). Context and common ground. In J. L. Mey (Ed.), Concise encyclopedia of pragmatics (pp. 116–119). Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
  17. Craig, K. D. (2009). The social communication model of pain. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 50(1), 22–32.  https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Curtis, A. (2018). Individual, institutional and international: Three aspects of intercultural communication. In A. Curtis & R. Sussex (Eds.), Intercultural communication in Asia: Education, language and values. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
  19. Diller, A. (1980). Cross-cultural pain semantics. Pain, 9, 9–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Dworkin, R. H., Turk, D. C., Revicki, D. A., Harding, G., Coyne, K. S., Peirce-Sandner, S., Bhagwat, D., Everton, D., Burke, L. B., Cowan, P., Farrar, J. T., Hertz, S., Max, M. B., Rappaport, B. A., & Melzack, R. (2009). Development and initial validation of an expanded and revised version of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ-2). Pain, 144(1–2), 35–42.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2009.02.007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Evans, S., & Bush, D. (2016). Endometriosis and pelvic pain (3rd ed.). Adelaide: Dr Susan F. Evans P/L.Google Scholar
  22. Fabrega, H. J. (1976). Culture, language and the shaping of illness. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 20, 323–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Fabrega, H. J., & Tyma, S. (1976). Language and cultural influences in the description of pain. The British Journal of Medical Psychology, 49(4), 349–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Fan, R. (2011). The Confucian bioethics of surrogate decision making: Its communitarian roots. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 32(5), 301–313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-011-9191-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Fernandez, E., & Boyle, G. L. (2001). Affective and evaluative descriptors of pain in the McGill Pain Questionnaire: Reduction and reorganization. The Journal of Pain, 2, 318–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Fernandez, E., & Towery, S. (1996). A parsimonious set of verbal descriptors of pain sensation derived from the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Pain, 66, 31–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Giles, H. (2016). Communication accommodation theory: Negotiating personal relationships and social identities across contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Goddard, C., & Ye, Z. (2014). Exploring “happiness” and “pain” across languages and cultures. International Journal of Language and Culture, 1(2), 131–148. https://doi.org/  https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.1.2.01god.
  29. Hadjistavropoulos, T., Craig, K. D., Duck, S., & Cano, A. (2011). A biopsychosocial formulation of pain communication. Psychological Bulletin, 137(6), 910–939. https://doi.org/  https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Halliday, M. A. K. (1998). On the grammar of pain. Functions of Language, 5(1), 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Hasegawa, M. (2001). The McGill Pain Questionnaire, Japanese version, reconsidered: Confirming the theoretical structure. Pain Research and Management, 6, 173–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. House, J. (2018). English as a global lingua franca: A threat to other languages, intercultural communication and translation? In A. Curtis & R. Sussex (Eds.), Intercultural communication in Asia: Education, language and values. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
  33. Institute of Medicine. (2011). Relieving pain in America: A blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education, and research. Retrieved on July 6, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22553896/
  34. Iwasaki, N., Vinson, D. P., & Vigliocco, G. (2007). How does it hurt, kiri-kiri or siku-siku? Japanese mimetic words of pain perceived by Japanese speakers and English speakers. In M. Minami (Ed.), Applying theory and research to learning Japanese as a foreign language (pp. 2–19). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
  35. Kecskes, I. (2018). How does intercultural communication differ from intercultural communication? In A. Curtis & R. Sussex (Eds.), Intercultural communication in Asia: Education, language and values. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
  36. Kecskes, I., & Zhang, F. (2009). Activating, seeking and creating common ground: A socio-cognitive approach. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17(2), 331–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Ketovuori, H., & Pontinen, P. J. (1981). A pain vocabulary in Finnish – The Finnish Pain Questionnaire. Pain, 11, 247–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Kim, H. S., Schwartz-Barcott, D., Holter, I. M., & Lorensen, M. (1995). Developing a translation of the McGill Pain Questionnaire for cross-cultural comparison: An example from Norway. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 21(3), 421–426.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.1995.tb02722.xm.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Kim, M.-S., Klingle, R. S., Sharkey, W. F., Park, H. S., Smith, D. H., & Cai, D. (2000). A test of a cultural model of patients’ motivation for verbal communication in patient-doctor interactions. Communication Monographs, 67(3), 262–283. https://doi.org/.  https://doi.org/10.1080/03637750009376510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Kövecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor and emotion: Language, culture, and body in human feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  41. Kövecses, Z. (2008). The conceptual structure of happiness and pain. In C. Lascaratou, A. Despotopoulou, & E. Ifantidou (Eds.), Reconstructing pain and joy: Linguistic, literary, and cultural perspectives (pp. 17–33). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
  42. Kwok, W., & Bhuvanakrishna, T. (2014). The relationship between ethnicity and the pain experience of cancer patients: A systematic review. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 20(3), 194–200.  https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1075.138391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Lascaratou, C. (2007). The language of pain. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Lascaratou, C. (2008). The function of language in the experience of pain. In C. Lascaratou, A. Despotopoulou, & E. Ifantidou (Eds.), Reconstructing pain and joy: Linguistic, literary, and cultural perspectives (pp. 37–57). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
  45. Lascaratou, C., & Marmaridou, S. (2005). Metaphor in Greek pain-constructions: Cognitive and functional perspectives. In S. Marmaridou, K. Nikiforidou, & A. Antonopoulou (Eds.), Reviewing linguistic thought: Converging trends for the 21st century (pp. 235–254). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
  46. Lian, A., & Sussex, R. (2018). Toward a critical epistemology for learning languages and cultures in 21st century Asia. In A. Curtis & R. Sussex (Eds.), Intercultural communication in Asia: Education, language and values. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
  47. Lim, T. S., & Bowers, J. W. (1991). Face-work: Solidarity, approbation, and tact. Human Communication Research, 17(3), 415–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Lwin, M. O., & Salmon, C. T. (2015). A retrospective overview of health communication studies in Asia from 2000 to 2013. Asian Journal of Communication, 25(1), 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Main, C. J. (2015). Pain assessment in context: A state of the science review of the McGill Pain Questionnaire 40 years on. Pain.  https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000457.
  50. Mäntyselkä, P., Kumpusalo, E., Ahonen, R., Kumpusalo, A., Kauhanen, J., Viinamäki, H., Halonen, P., & Takala, J. (2001). Pain as a reason to visit the doctor: A study in Finnish primary health care. Pain, 89(2–3), 175–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Melzack, R. (1975). The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Major properties and scoring methods. Pain, 1, 277–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Melzack, R. (1987). The short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire. Pain, 30, 191–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Melzack, R., & Torgerson, W. S. (1971). On the language of pain. Anaesthesiology, 34(1), 50–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Menezes Costa, L., da Maher, C. G., McAuley, J. H., & Costa, L. O. P. (2009). Systematic review of cross-cultural adaptations of McGill Pain Questionnaire reveals a paucity of clinimetric testing. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 62(9), 934–943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.03.019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Merskey, H., & Bogduk, N. (Eds.). (1994). Classification of chronic pain, IASP task force on taxonomy (2nd ed.). Seattle: IASP Press.Google Scholar
  56. Mystakidou, K. (2002). Greek McGill Pain Questionnaire: Validation and utility in cancer patients. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 24, 379–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. National Pain Strategy (Australia). (2011). Retrieved on July 7, 2017, from http://www.painaustralia.org.au/improving-policy/national-pain-strategy
  58. Nayak, S. (2000). Culture and gender effects in pain beliefs and the prediction of pain tolerance. Cross-Cultural Research, 34, 135–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Nguyen, H. H. T. (2014). The language of pain in Vietnamese. St Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland PhD Dissertation.Google Scholar
  60. Parker, M. A., Sneddon, A. E., & Arbon, P. (2010). The menstrual disorder of teenagers (MDOT) study: Determining typical menstrual patterns and menstrual disturbance in a large population-based study of Australian teenagers. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 117(2), 185–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Patients Beyond Borders. (n.d.). Accessed on 29 January 2017 from http://www.patientsbeyondborders.com/medical-tourism-statistics-facts.
  62. Pauwels, A. (1990). Health professionals’ perceptions of communication difficulties in cross-cultural contexts. ARAL, S7, 93–111.Google Scholar
  63. Perquin, C. W., Hazebroek-Kampschreur, A. A. J. M., Hunfeld, J. A. M., Bohnen, A. M., van Suijlekom-Smit, L. W. A., Passchier, J., & van der Wouden, J. C. (2000). Pain in children and adolescents: A common experience. Pain, 87(1), 51–58.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3959(00)00269-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  64. Pham, T. H. N. (2018). Confucian values as challenges for communication in intercultural workplace contexts: Evidence from Vietnamese –Anglo-cultural interactions. In A. Curtis & R. Sussex (Eds.), Intercultural communication in Asia: Education, language and values. Cham: Springer.Google Scholar
  65. Rey, R. (1998). The history of pain (J. A. Cadden, & S. W. Cadden, Trans.). Cambridge, MA/London: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  66. Rowbotham, S., Wardy, A. J., Lloyd, D. M., Wearden, A., & Holler, J. (2014). Increased pain intensity is associated with greater verbal communication difficulty and increased production of speech and co-speech gestures. PLoS One, 9(10), e110779.  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  67. Sakai, E. Y., & Carpenter, B. D. (2011). Linguistic features of power dynamics in triadic dementia diagnostic conversations. Patient Education and Counseling, 85(2), 295–298.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2010.09.020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  68. Sargent, C. (1984). Between death and shame: Dimensions of pain in Bariba culture. Social Science & Medicine, 19(12), 1299–1304.  https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(84)90016-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  69. Sauver, J. L. S., Warner, D. O., Yawn, B. P., Jacobson, D. J., McGree, M. E., Pankratz, J. J., Rocca, W. A. (2013). Why patients visit their doctors: Assessing the most prevalent conditions in a defined American population. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 88(1), 56–67. https://doi.org/  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.08.020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  70. Scarry, E. (1985). The body in pain: The making and unmaking of the world. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  71. Stephens, R. (2009). Swearing as a response to pain. Neuroreport, 20, 1056–1060.Google Scholar
  72. Strong, J., Mathews, T., Sussex, R., New, F., Hoey, S., & Mitchell, G. (2009). Pain language and gender differences when describing a past pain event. Pain, 145, 85–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  73. Sullivan, M. D., & Derbyshire, S. W. (2015). Is there a purely biological core to pain experience? Pain, 156(11), 2119–2120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  74. Sussex, R. (2009). The language of pain in applied linguistics: Review article of Chryssoula Lascaratou’s The language of pain (Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2007). Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 32(1), 6.1–6.14.  https://doi.org/10.2104/aral0906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  75. Sussex, R. (2012). Switching in international English. In A. Kirkpatrick & R. Sussex (Eds.), English as an international language in Asia: Implications for language education (pp. 175–190). Berlin/London: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  76. Sussex, R., & Kirkpatrick, A. (2012). A postscript and a prolegomenon. In A. Kirkpatrick & R. Sussex (Eds.), English as an international language in Asia: Implications for language education (pp. 223–231). Berlin/London: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  77. Todd, A. S., & Todd, S. F. (1993). The social organization of doctor-patient communication (2nd ed.). Greenwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
  78. Towery, S., & Fernandez, E. (1996). Reclassification and rescaling of McGill Pain Questionnaire verbal descriptors of pain sensation: A replication. The Clinical Journal of Pain, 12(4), 270–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  79. Wierzbicka, A. (1999). Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  80. Wierzbicka, A. (2012). Is pain a human universal? A cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective on pain. Emotion Review, 4(3), 307–317. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073912439761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  81. Wierzbicka, A. (2014). “Pain” and “suffering” in cross-linguistic perspective. International Journal of Language and Culture, 1(2), 149–173.  https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.1.2.02wie.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  82. Wiesenfeld-Hallin, Z. (2005). Sex differences in pain perception. Gender Medicine, 2, 137–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  83. Wilkie, D. J., Savedra, M. C., Holzemer, W. D., Tesler, M. D., & Paul, S. M. (1990). Use of the McGill Pain Questionnaire to measure pain: A meta-analysis. Nursing Research, 39, 36–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  84. Wittgenstein, L. (1953/1989). Philosophical investigations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
  85. Wolff, J. L., & Roter, D. L. (2008). Hidden in plain sight: Medical visit companions as a resource for vulnerable older adults. Archives of Internal Medicine, 168(13), 1409–1415.  https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.168.13.1409. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  86. Wolff, J. L., & Roter, D. L. (2011). Family presence in routine medical visits: A meta-analytical review. Social Science & Medicine, 72(6), 823–831.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.01.015. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  87. Zborowski, M. (1969). People in pain. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Languages and Cultures, and Institute for Teaching and Learning InnovationThe University of QueenslandSt LuciaAustralia

Personalised recommendations