Table 3 Themes identified from focus groups
Theme | Sample quotes |
|---|---|
Pain – the experience | “I think it was more discomfort than real pain” |
“you expect it to be uncomfortable” | |
“because I don’t, the word pain to me means something totally different to what I had, and I had discomfort” | |
“I think for myself it was more a discomfort than actual severe pain” | |
“just a dragging, not really what you’d call pain, just a dragging feeling” | |
Pain - severity | “Pain means something excruciating, that I can’t stand, that I need something for” |
“well just the degree of discomfort I felt, which I did have, obviously had some discomfort, and I, I only took paracetamol” | |
Vaginal pack | “I felt a lot better once the pack was out” |
“I can half remember the feeling of it coming out and thinking thank God for that” | |
“and when the pack came out obviously it was much more comfortable then, and the, the actual, the sort of the real pain was that I got in, in my back passage” | |
“it was more intense and more, like you say, the back passage area, which when I mentioned to the nurse they said oh you will do because of all the stitches and the pack, it’s the pack that’s causing the pressure” | |
“a lot better, again once the pack was out and catheter was out, an awful lot better” | |
“the most painful thing of all was when they removed the…pack” | |
Research | “perhaps the pack needs investigating” |
“The thing that seems to cause the most trouble is that pack, that must be essential” | |
Assessment | “I think, I think it’s difficult to score between one and ten because there’s very little difference say between three and four, so you know, are there too many options” |
“well I think if you said sort of between say one and six, and six was the top, one was the bottom, so you had more idea, are you in the middle or top or bottom” | |
“it’s, that’s good, but then if you did, if you had that on one of you leaflets to go home, even if it wasn’t reported back to the hospital, if you could then think to yourself I’ll fill that leaflet in, how am I feeling today, again visually if you can see yourself, how you are” | |
“almost need to keep a diary, don’t you?” |