Pain Beliefs, Coping Approaches, and Related Factors in Nursing Students

Abstract

Objectives Pain, a common human experience, is also experienced by nursing students, and pain beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors toward pain play an important role in coping with pain. There is insufficient data about the relationship between pain beliefs and pain coping strategies. Thus, this study aims to reveal the relationship between pain beliefs and pain coping approaches of nursing students and affecting factors. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional, and correlational design was used, and the data were collected with respondent characteristics form, the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and the Pain Beliefs Questionnaire (PBQ), by researchers from 380 nursing students in the nursing department. Results Nursing students who used non-pharmacological interventions to cope with pain had higher levels of psychological belief (PBQ-P) scores (4.97±0.86) than organic belief (PBQ-O) scores (3.90±0.71) and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). According to the multivariate linear regression analysis results, nursing students' gender, utilizing non-pharmacological interventions, and NRS scores affected PBQ-P scores by 87.1% (R 2 =0.871) and PBQ-O scores by 81.0% (R 2 =0.810). Conclusions As can be seen from the results of this study, the higher psychological beliefs of nursing students who use non-pharmacological interventions to cope with pain are an example of this situation. In light of the information in this study, it should be taken into consideration that both psychological and organic beliefs have a strong relationship with pain intensity and pain coping approaches. Nursing students, the nurses of tomorrow, should be aware of the impact of psychological and organic beliefs on individuals' pain experiences and coping approaches and should take this into account when planning nursing care.