Iranian Nurses' Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Complementary Therapies for Pain Management

Complementary therapies (CTs) are being increasingly used by people with health issues and recommended by their health care providers. Although there are numerous studies available that address nurses' knowledge and attitudes regarding pain management, there are few that include the use of CTs by nurses in Iran. Therefore, this study was conducted in selected areas of Iran to assess nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and current practice regarding the use of CTs.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample of 850 nurses from various regions of Iran between 2020 and 2022. A questionnaire was used that consisted of seven items addressing demographic characteristics, 15 items to assess knowledge, 25 items to address attitude and 22 items to address the practice of CTs in the area of pain relief. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.

The participants' mean age was 33.26 ± 7.24 years. Most nurses (89.9%) had not received formal education on CTs. However, 78.6% of nurses reported personal use of CTs, and 62.3% reported using or recommending it to their patients at least once. Regarding the knowledge of CTs, nurses scored 5.81 on a 15 points scale indicating a considerable gap in their knowledge of CTs. Regarding attitudes toward the specific therapies, nurses believed that massage is highly (46.4%) or moderately (31.6%) effective in pain relief. Regarding effectiveness, nurses ranked the following as the top four CTs: music therapy, humor, hydrotherapy, and use of cold / heat.

The nurses in this study scored low on knowledge of CTs, meaning that they knew little about CTs. However, they showed a favorable attitude toward CTs and a majority of them had a history of personal use, and recommending some types of CTs to their patients for pain relief. Therefore, it is crucial for nurse managers to provide opportunities to acquire knowledge of CTs. Moreover, nurse educators should advocate for updating nursing curricula to include CTs as an essential component of pain management education.