Özet:

Purpose: This study was conducted with the aim of assessing the prevalence of pain in the elderly in society and the practice of pain self-management in the elderly. Instrument and Method: The sample of the study, which is of a cutting-edge quality, is made up by 258 people aged 65 years and over who arrived at the Family Health Center between January and March 2016. The data is collected through the form of socio-demographic characteristics, the Geriatric Pain Scale (GAO) and the Inventory of Pain Management Applications by the face-to-face conversation method. Results: According to the Geriatric Pain Scale, older people living in society experience a moderate level of pain (44.7±25.6). The pain is severe in 21.7 percent of the elderly and in the middle of 50.4 percent. On the day the data were collected, the pain perception of the elderly was determined at a mild level of pain. The pain of the elderly who tries to relieve the pain with non-medicinal methods is at a mild pain level (20.6±21.5). Elderly people who use non-medicative methods along with pain remedies experience moderate pain (51.0±22.8). The level of pain in the elderly who regularly use the pain remover is higher. The non-medicinal self-management practices that older people often use are restraint-activity to pass pain (43.4%) and running anything on the painful area (38.8%) and massage the painful area (33.7%) and hot application (32.6%) Result: One in five elderly people in the community experience severe pain. In diseases that are determinant in severe pain, the elderly should be supported in pain management.

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