The Effect of Low Back Pain Education Program on the Nurses in a General Hospital

Kwon, Young Sook

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not a education program of low back pain would have beneficial effect on nurses. Nonequivalent control group pre-post test research was designed. Subjects for this study were 50 selected from nurses who work at a general hospital in Taegu. Of them, twenty seven were assigned to experimental group, twenty-three to control group. The data were collected during the period from June 27 to August 31, 1994. The instruments used in this study were Visual Analog Scale for low back pain, Sit-and-reach test for trunk flexibility, and 1 min sit up test for abdominal muscle endurance. Data related to general characteristics and factors of low back pain were collected with questionnaire developed by this researcher. The data were analyzed by X2-test, t-test and paired t-test, using the SAS package program. The results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. The numbers of the experimental group with low back pain were not a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(X2=0.77, p=.379), and the numbers of the control group with low back pain were also not a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(X2=0.09, p=.767). 2. The severity of low back pain of the experimental group was not a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(t=-0.55, p=.5857), and the severity of low back pain of the control group was also not a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(t=-0.70, p=.3101). 3. The trunk flexibility of the experimental group was not a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(t=1.08, p=.2835), and the control group's trunk flexibility was also not a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(t=0.85, p=.4026). 4. The abdominal muscle endurance of the experimental group was a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(t=-2.42, p=.0190), but the control group's abdominal muscle endurance was not a statistically significant difference from pre to posttesting(t=-0.06, p=.9556). This study suggest that replication of study with more sample and more rigid treatment should be needed. And furthermore, the longitudinal research is needed to determine the effectiveness of education program.