Nonpharmacologic Interventions to Manage Children's Pain: Immediate and Short-Term Effects of a Continuing Education Program

A two-group pretest, posttest design was used to test the effects of a two-hour educational program about using five nonpharmacologic pain management techniques with children on nurses' knowledge of, comfort with, attitude toward, and use of the discussed techniques. Five pediatric patient care units were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. Pretest responses from 54 nurses indicated that attitude was the only significant determinant of their intention to guide children's imagery. A subset of 35 nurses actually attended the program and completed posttest responses. On posttest, the treatment group reported significantly greater knowledge of and comfort with using the techniques. Comparison of pretest with posttest responses across both groups indicated a significant increase in knowledge of and comfort with using nonpharmacologic techniques. Two months after the program, 24 nurses from both groups reported increased use of the techniques in practice compared with prior to the program.