This paper will describe the latest findings regarding pain assessment
and pain identification in cognitively impaired individuals, especially those with dementia.
Particular emphasis will be given to the specialist tools used to identify pain and current
attempts to develop an improved assessment tool. The validity of facial and other signs of pain
in cognitively impaired people who are not verbal will be discussed. The presentation will
culminate with the discussion of new findings from a recent study, which will support the
correlation of observational data and subjective reports of pain in a group of adults with
chronic pain, in an attempt to support the development of the new pain assessment
tool.
