Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Cancer Pain Management Among Nurses at Oncology Units

Abstract

Nurses have major responsibilities to treat cancer pain in an optimal way. Their knowledge and attitudes are the key to success cancer pain management (CPM) process and impact the outcomes of pain treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes toward CPM among Jordanian nurses working at oncology units. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to collect data from 135 nurses who were working at four oncology units using Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain. The percentage of correct answers was 51.5% indicating that participants had fair knowledge and attitudes toward CPM. Nurses appeared knowledgeable about CPM guidelines but were unfamiliar regarding pharmacological management and had negative attitudes toward opioids addiction and pain assessment. Significantly, knowledge and attitudes were higher among nurses who had previous education programs (P < .001) and worked in a pain team (P < .001). Therefore, including CPM topics in nursing curricula and postgraduate educational programs is needed. Additionally, initiating pain management teams and using CPM guidelines will contribute to effective treatment of cancer pain.

Keywords: Attitudes; Cancer pain; Jordan; Knowledge; Nurses; Oncology; Pain management.