Nurses' perceptions of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and sufferers of IBS

The present study set out to discover nurses' attitudes towards, and beliefs about, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and IBS sufferers. A 54-item questionnaire was completed by 254 qualified nurses from 18 London hospitals. Nurses rated statements relating to IBS on a scale from disagree (1) to agree (5). Questionnaire items fell into four broad categories. The first related to the way nurses felt about the sufferers of IBS; the vast majority of nurses agreed with items stating that IBS patients are demanding, unable to cope with life, lazy and crave attention, and waste doctors' time. The second category related to nurses' beliefs regarding their knowledge of the syndrome; only half the sample believed that they would recognize the symptoms of IB and that they had a good understanding of the disorder. Ratings on items relating to the nurses' general knowledge of the symptoms showed that between a quarter and a half of the sample felt uncertain about the veracity of the statements. A fourth category was the nurses' beliefs regarding the attitudes held by health professionals, with half of the sample believing that doctors and health professionals generally had a poor understanding of IBS. Surprisingly, results showed that older, more experienced nurses, and those suffering from the syndrome were not more sympathetic and understanding than younger, non-sufferers. The present study shows that the majority of nurses hold negative attitudes towards IBS sufferers, which can only be detrimental to the treatment of those patients with IBS.