Introduction:

The impact of pain in the adult in care is significant on their quality of life and it is increasingly recognized that conventional medical treatment may not be sufficient.

Objective:

To describe the experiences of adults who have received non-pharmacological interventions for the management of chronic non-oncologic pain in palliative care.

Methodology:

Qualitative with a phenomenological design based on Colaizzi’s method. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with adults with chronic non-oncologic pain who were in palliative care programs and were being treated with non-pharmacological pain therapies, aged between 50 and 80 years.

Results:

The results were grouped into three thematic units with their respective meaning units: 1) Recognizing pain, 2) Experiencing the benefits of therapy, and 3) Experiencing relief. The meanings and stages of the study demonstrate the different situations through which the participants go through in order to make sense of their therapeutic experience.

Conclusions:

The study provided insight into the experience of adults with chronic non-oncological pain undergoing non-pharmacological therapies. The experience transcends the discovery of a possibility in non-pharmacological therapies, which goes from the initial assessment through the treatment and its culmination. There is fear and uncertainty due to the limitations experienced by the pain, but the therapies become the last therapeutic resource in the hope of achieving relief for their ailment.