Assessment of Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Non- Pharmacological Pain Management Therapies and Techniques, in West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia, 2014
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Date
2014-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Non-pharmacological methods have unique advantages to relieving pain that
medications do not have such as giving the patients a more active role in managing their pain.
There are many types of non-pharmacological methods that vary amongst heat/cold, distraction,
massage and relaxation. Nurses must have a great knowledge of non pharmacological methods
to practice them effectively. In addition, nurses' own attitudes greatly affect the way they treat a
patient’s pain.
Objective: To assess nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and practice of non-pharmacological pain
management therapies and techniques when caring for patients in selected governmental health
care settings in West Gojjam zone, Amhara regional state, Ethiopia.
Method: Cross-sectional study design was used. Data was collected from March 2014 to April
2014 by using a structured open and closed ended questionnaire. Source population of the study
was nurses who work at governmental health care institutions in West Gojjam. In this study,
sample size was 583 nurses from randomly selected woredas. To assess the relationship of
factors and non-pharmacological pain management odds ratio, bivariate and multivariate
regression analysis were performed.
Results: The results show non pharmacologic pain management practices were at an
unsatisfactory level. The most barriers to applied non-pharmacological pain management were
lack of time, patient unwieldiness and lack of equipment. There was a positive relationship
between age, educational level, years of experience, and attendance on training courses with
practice and positive relationship between knowledge and attitude with practice of the nursing
staff regarding non-pharmacological methods.
Conclusion: In this cross-sectional study, socio demographic factors, knowledge, attitude
contributing to nurses’ non-pharmacological practice were analyzed. , socio demographic
factors, knowledge and attitude were found significantly associated with nurses’ practice.
Recommendation: This study recommended that efforts to improve application of non drug
interventions should focus on innovative educational strategies, using problem solving to secure
support, and development and testing of new delivery methods that require less time from busy
staff nurses.
Key words: pain, non-pharmacological, nurses, knowledge, attitude, practice
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Keywords
Pain, Non-pharmacological, Nurses, Knowledge