Purpose
This study aimed to identify factors influencing performance of pain assessment and pain intervention for dementia patients among long-term care hospital nurses.
Methods
In this descriptive study, participants were 106 nurses working in seven long-term care hospitals. Data were collected from August 13 to August 30, 2019. Nurses’ performance of pain assessment and pain intervention, attitude toward dementia, empathy, and knowledge about dementia-related pain were measured through self-reported questionnaires.
Results
The factors influencing performance of pain assessment were a total clinical career of 5 to 9 years (β=.29, p=.013) and a total clinical career of more than 15 years (β=.31, p=.013), which together explained 15.9% of the variance in the model. The factor influencing performance of pain intervention was attitude toward dementia (β=.31, p=.018), and explained 8.7% of the variance in the model. Empathy and knowledge about dementia-related pain were not found to be significant factors in either of the models.
Conclusion
The study findings suggest that a specialized education program for nurses with short clinical careers should be developed. Additionally, when designing the education program, it is recommended that varied content that can induce psychological and emotional attitude changes be included, as well as knowledge-oriented content. Finally, the more effective the pain assessment for dementia patients, the more appropriate the pain intervention and its performance will be. Thus, it is necessary to provide systematic training to enhance the pain assessment skills through a case study-based approach.

Citations

• The Status and Challenges of Pain Assessment in Hospitalized Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
  Xiaofeng Xu, Hongxiu Chen, Jing Xu, Yue'er Zhang, Renrong Gong, Xiuying Hu
  Pain Management Nursing.2025; 26(2): e124.     CrossRef
• Development of the Korean Version of the Pain Assessment Tool in Impaired Cognition (KPAIC-15) for Patients with Dementia: A Scale Development
  Sun Young Lim, Su Jung Lee, Sung Ok Chang
  Journal of Korean Gerontological Nursing.2022; 24(2): 218.     CrossRef

This study tried to suggest the basic materials that can be efficiently applied in clinical cases by understanding problems through a content analysis of an adult nursing assessment tool and opinion agreement about nurse's practical usage presently used in the hospital. The study was carried out in 36 attached hospitals in nationwide universities from May to December, 1999, the two hundred and twenty five reports were for analysis. The contents of the collected nursing assessment tool were analyzed. It was found that the tool had been used with various names and content and there were instances of partial omission of a number of items, such as documentation and time records. Other results revealed that they mostly had a systematic classification of items, formation of details a form of a check list, and the effect of saving time. In spite of the adult nursing assessment tool, it was suggested that its style be subdivided according to the specialized of a department and that standardized style be amended and supplemented. The respondents also answered that there had to be education about continuous and sufficient health assessment skills on the physical examination record. The most frequently suggested items to be added were: past history, marital status, patient and caregiver's address and telephone number. It was found that a patient's education career, economic status, religion, hygienic practice, sexual life and hobby were the most frequently omitted items on record. The reason given wes because the items were associated with his/her privacy. These results highlight the importance of analyzing the content with an complete data collection, supplying basic content for a more accurate nursing record, computerization, sharing information and standardization of the form.