Korean J Adult Nurs.  2016 Aug;28(4):388-398. 10.7475/kjan.2016.28.4.388.

Geriatric Hospital Nurses' Empathy, Attitude and Pain Management for Patients with Dementia

• Lee M
• Park M

• KMID: 2351403
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7475/kjan.2016.28.4.388

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purposes of this study were to identify nurses' empathy, attitude and pain management for patients with dementia and the factors associated with their performance of pain management.
METHODS
The study design was a cross-sectional survey. The participants in the study were 114 nurses working at 12 geriatric hospitals. This study utilized the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), which measures four empathy factors. Nurses' attitudes toward pain and performance of pain management, and general and pain related characteristics were measured by self-administered questionnaires.
RESULTS
Barriers to pain management for patients with dementia were absence of guidelines, prejudice of pain in dementia, and lack of time and knowledge deficit. There was a significant positive correlation between empathic concern and attitudes, perspective-taking of empathy and pain management. There was also a correlation between empathy and pain management. Stepwise linear regression analysis indicated that the significant factors affecting the performance of pain management included perspective-taking of empathy, use of pain management in dementia guideline and attitudes toward pain. These factors explained 24.0% of variance.
CONCLUSION
The findings from this study suggest that empathy and positive attitude are the important provider attributes which needs to be enhanced by educational programs. It is also necessary to develop and disseminate guidelines for a dementia specific pain management.

MeSH Terms

Cross-Sectional Studies
Dementia*
Empathy*
Humans
Linear Models
Pain Management*
Prejudice

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