Pain management in the older adult: The relationship between nurses' knowledge, attitudes and nurses' practice in Ireland and Jordan.

Background: Research studies regarding nurses' knowledge attitudes and practice in the older adult are limited. Furthermore, none of these studies attempted to investigate the relationship between knowledge attitudes and practice. Furthermore, little studies compared nurses' knowledge, attitudes and practice between Eastern and Western countries.

Aim: To describe the factors associated with nurses' acute pain management practice in the context of caring for older adult patients.

Method: A quantitative, correlational, comparative and cross-sectional survey approach.

Data Collection: Data were collected using survey questionnaire.

Sample: A sample of 267 registered nurses from Ireland and Jordan (one private hospital in each country).

Results: A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that nurses' general knowledge and attitude towards pain management was associated with their pain management practice, with a regression coefficient of 0.14 (p = 0.002). However, knowledge of pain in the elderly failed to reach a statistically significant relationship with pain management practice. In regards to country and gender, Irish nurses had an average score that was 2.61 points higher than Jordanian nurses (p < 0.001), female nurses had an average score that was 0.67 points higher than male nurses (p = 0.025). The overall regression model was significant (p < 0.001) with an R value of 43.2%, indicating that 43.2% of the variation in scores was explained by knowledge, attitude and practice.

Conclusion: More research studies combining the three concepts (knowledge, attitude and practice) are recommended in the area of pain management.