Nurses’ Perception of Pain in People With Dementia: A Philosophical Overview

Pain perception is a very complicated phenomenon in dementia care. Both rationalists and empiricists strived to reach to an understanding of pain perception. Rationalists such as Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes made some contributions in knowledge development of the concept of pain perception. Empiricists discussed how sensory experience, evidence based practice, tradition, and systematic approach of thinking could affect the knowledge attainment of pain perception. Nurse researchers would investigate both philosophical traditions in order to have comprehensive understanding of pain perception and facilitate nurses’ decisions to treat pain in people with dementia.