Impact of a pain management program on nurses' knowledge and attitude toward pain in United Arab Emirates: Experimental-four Solomon group design.

BACKGROUND: Lack of knowledge about pain is a common barrier to effective pain management. Educational pain management programs directed to health care professionals can improve knowledge and attitudes about pain. However, changing practice is more challenging, but can be achieved with more targeted educational interventions within the clinical setting. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study was to examine which of four separate pain management educational designs improved nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward pain over time. Secondary objectives were to compare and contrast nurse's knowledge and attitudes toward pain before and after the educational intervention. DESIGN: This randomized controlled trial using a four Solomon group design. SETTING: This study took place in Dubai Hospital, Dubai Health Authority, in United Arab Emirates between January 2019-April 2019. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 200 registered nurses who were randomly selected and assigned into four separate educational groups. Participants had at least one year of experience in Dubai hospital prior to data collection. RESULTS: paired t-test has shown the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.01). One-way ANOVA revealed significant post-test score differences between groups p < 0.001. A repeated measures ANOVA with a Greenhouse-Geisser correction determined that mean scores over three months was not statistically significant. Indicating that the level of knowledge did not change over time within any of the groups. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The most important findings were the relatively low pre-test knowledge scores among staff nurses, and the significant improvement in knowledge for most test items following the educational intervention. Moreover, the level of knowledge and attitudes were maintained over three months. The pain management program proved to be effective in improving nurses' pain knowledge, attitudes, and assessment practices. Nurses in the experimental group increased their pain score significantly after the pain management program. Registration number: NETUBR.