Effect of empowerment program on improving nurses' knowledge, attitude, and performance in neonatal pain management

Neonatal pain can have serious consequences for infants' health. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an empowerment program on improving nurses' knowledge, attitude, and performance in managing neonatal pain.

This semi-experimental, pre-post intervention study without a control group was conducted on nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit of Shahid Montazeri Hospital, Najafabad, and Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, in 2022. Nurses were divided into 4 groups of 10 and received 4 empowerment sessions (in the form of educational classes and two 90-minute sessions per week) on neonatal pain management. Before, immediately after, and one month after the educational intervention, nurses completed questionnaires on knowledge, attitude, and performance. Data were analyzed using t-tests and repeated measures ANOVA using SPSS version 21 software.

Intra-group analysis showed a significant effect of time on knowledge, attitude, and performance scores, and the mean scores of nurses' knowledge, attitude, and performance differed significantly between the three time points (P=0.001). Moreover, the Bonferroni post hoc test showed that the comparison of the mean scores of knowledge (F=65.82), attitude (F=24.42), and performance (F=49.88) between the pre- and immediate post-intervention, as well as the mean scores of these scores before and one month after the intervention, showed a significant increase (P=0.001). However, the comparison of the mean scores of knowledge (P=0.07), attitude (P=0.98), and performance (P=0.99) immediately after and one month after the intervention was not significant.

According to the results of the present study, the empowerment program led to a significant increase in nurses' knowledge, a more positive attitude, and improved performance in the field of neonatal pain management, and this improvement was sustained over time. Therefore, it seems that holding empowerment sessions for nurses can lead to improved quality of care for infants and reduce their pain experience.