Parents' knowledge, attitudes, use of pain relief methods and satisfaction related to their children's postoperative pain management: a descriptive correlational study

Abstract

Aims and objectives: To examine parents' knowledge about and attitudes towards pain management, use of pain relief strategies and satisfaction with their children's postoperative pain management, as well as the relationships among these variables.

Background: Children's postoperative pain is inadequately managed worldwide. Despite increasing emphasis on parental involvement in children's postoperative pain management, few studies have examined parents' management of their child's postoperative pain in Singapore.

Design: A descriptive correlational study.

Methods: A convenience sample of 60 parents having 6- to 14-year-old children undergoing inpatient elective surgery in a public hospital in Singapore was recruited. Data were collected one day after each child's surgery using the Pain Management Knowledge and Attitudes questionnaire and the Parents' Use of Pain Relief Strategies questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were used for data analyses.

Results: Parents displayed moderate levels of knowledge, attitudes and use of pain relief methods in relation to their children's postoperative pain and pain management. They were generally satisfied with the management of their child's postoperative pain. There was significant difference in Parents' Use of Pain Relief Strategies scores between parents with and without previous experience of caring for their hospitalised child. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between parents' knowledge and attitude, knowledge and satisfaction, attitude and satisfaction, knowledge and pain relief strategies, as well as attitude and pain relief strategies.

Conclusion: This study indicates the need to provide parents with more information regarding their children's postoperative pain management. Future studies are needed to develop educational interventions for parents to improve their knowledge and attitudes, which will eventually improve their use of pain relief strategies for their children.

Relevance to clinical practice: Health professionals need to provide more information to equip parents with knowledge and skills regarding paediatric postoperative pain management.

Keywords: attitude; knowledge; pain relief; parent involvement; postoperative pain management; satisfaction.