Nurses’ Perceptions of Children’s Pain: A Pilot Study of Cognitive Representations
In spite of advances over the past decade in pain assessment and pharmacological management, hospitalized children continue to report significant levels of pain intensity. The purpose of this pilot study is to examine pediatric nurses’ cognitive representations of children’s pain and pain management in order to better understand what nurses are thinking as they determine how to respond to a child experiencing pain. This unique approach could provide direction for intervention with nurses to improve nursing practice in the management of children’s pain and to enhance children’s pain relief. Kaplan’s theory of cognitive representation guides the research project. The specific objectives for this pilot study are to: (1) determine how pediatric nurses cognitively represent children’s pain and pain management, (2) determine the frequency, evaluation (positive or negative), and importance of features in pediatric nurses’ cognitive representations, (3) determine the frequency and importance of categories in pediatric nurses’ cognitive representations, and (4) compare the degree of congruence between pediatric nurses’ cognitive representations and their decisions about assessment and analgesic administration. For this pilot study, a descriptive design will be used to address the research objectives. Twenty registered nurses will be recruited from a local university/children’s hospital. Nurses’ cognitive representations of children’s pain and pain management will be measured with the Conceptual Content Cognitive Map (3CM) open-ended technique. This mapping method permits identification of the most salient features of the participant’s knowledge, beliefs and assumptions, and provides a visual display of how this knowledge is organized and conceptualized. Nurses also will be asked to provide their responses to case studies about assessment and analgesia administration. Data analysis will include use of descriptive and content analyses to address the study objectives.
Session #1219 - Poster Session I
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)