A Nurse’s Good Intentions Can Ease Patient’s Pain

The pain of a medical procedure can be minimized by a nurse’s compassionate care suggests a study recently published by University of Maryland (UMD).

“The way we read another person’s intentions changes our physical experience of the world,” says UMD assistant professor Kurt Gray, author of “The Power of Good Intentions,” published online in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. Gray directs the Maryland Mind Perception and Morality Lab.

The power of good intentions was demonstrated in 3 separate experiments, with the first one examining pain. For the study, identical electric shocks at the hand of a partner were administered to 3 groups of participants:

• One group of individuals was given “accidental” shocks. Participants believed they were receiving shocks without their partner’s knowledge
• In the second group, individuals thought their shock was administered on purpose (“maliciously”) and for no good reason
• The final group (“benevolent shocks”) also believed they were being shocked on purpose; however, it was with the understanding that another person was trying to help them win money

Researchers discovered that participants in the “benevolent” group experienced significantly less pain than individuals in the “malicious” and “accident” groups. According to Gray, this finding should “provide relief to doctors and even those caring parents who are sometimes compelled to inflict pain on their charges for their [charges] own good.”

Furthermore, “How painful people find medical procedures depends in part upon the perceived intentions of the person administering it,” says Gray. “Getting blood taken from stony-faced nurse hurts more than from an empathic one.”

Study available online: “The Power of Good Intentions: Perceived Benevolence Soothes Pain, Increases Pleasure, and Improves Taste,” Kurt Gray, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10.1177/1948550611433470

Source: University of Maryland.