Nursing students' pain beliefs and attitudes toward pain assessment: A descriptive study

Objectives: This study investigated nursing students’ pain beliefs and attitudes toward pain assessment.
Methods: The sample consisted of 365 nursing students from a state university in the Central Black Sea Region of Türkiye. The research was conducted between May 5th and June 9th, 2023. Data were collected using a student information form, the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (PBQ), and the Nursing Students’ Attitudes Scale toward Pain Assessment (NSASPA). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the independent sample t-test, the One-Way ANOVA test, the Tukey test, and the Pearson correlation test.
Results: Participants had a mean PBQ and NSASPA score of 3.13±0.52 and 57.66±7.47, respectively. Fourth-year students had significantly higher mean NSASPA total and subscale scores than first-year students (p=0.000). Participants who knew about pain assessment tools had significantly higher mean NSASPA total and subscale scores than those who did not (p=0.000). Participants who had used a standardized measurement tool for pain assessment before had significantly higher mean NSASPA total and subscale scores than those who had not (p=0.000). The PBQ total scores were very weakly correlated with the NSASPA total scores (r=0.125, p=0.017).
Conclusion: Participants’ attitudes toward pain assessment were negatively correlated with their pain beliefs. Therefore, nursing educators should revise the curriculum to help nursing students develop positive pain beliefs and positive attitudes toward pain assessment.