Nurses’ Attitudes Toward Holistic and Complementary Medicine in Pain Management

Abstract

Background

The effects of nurses’ attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in pain management in terms of safety and quality of life are important. Nurses turn to a CAM approach to deal with pain problems.

Aim

This study aimed to investigate nurses’ attitudes toward CAM and to determine their sociodemographic and pain-related characteristics.

Design

This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study.

Methods

This study was carried out with 150 nurses between March 31 and April 30, 2023. Data were collected with the “Data Collection Form,” “Pain Numerical Rating Scale,” and “Attitudes toward Holistic and Complementary Medicine Scale” developed by the researchers.

Results

The mean age of the nurses who participated in the study was 33.24 ± 8.69. It was determined that 55.3% of the nurses frequently used pharmacological and CAM treatments together in their pain management, and 71.3% of them used these treatments for less than 1 week. It was found that 65.3% of the nurses used massage, 60% used spa/hot-cold applications, 54.0% used acupuncture, 42.6% used art/color/music/dance therapy, and 12.6% used prayer or meditation in pain management.

Conclusions

It was determined that nurses used pharmacological and CAM methods together in pain management. Nurses can be offered CAM therapy options in addition to pharmacological treatments to manage their pain, and information can be given.