Social Cognitive Determinants of Patient Education Intention among Nurses

Background and Objective: Patient education is an important nursing duty. This practice is considered as one of the standards of nursing care quality, which plays an important role in the health promotion of the patients. Regarding this, the present study aimed to determine the predictors of behavioral intention of patient education among the nurses based on the theory of planned behavior. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 nurses working at teaching hospitals affiliated to Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. The study population was selected through cluster sampling with a probability proportional to size. The data were collected using self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two parts, including items related to demographic data and theory of planned behavior regarding the intention of patient education. The data were analyzed using linear regression, Chisquare test, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation in SPSS version 16. Pvalue less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control accounted for 35% of the variance in patient education behavioral intention among the nurses (R=0.35), out of which attitude was the strongest predictor (ß=0.287). Furthermore, behavioral intention was significantly correlated with subjective norms (r=0.470, P<0.001), perceived behavioral control (r=0.384, P<0.001), and attitude (r=0.508, P<0.001). Conclusion: As the findings indicated, attitude had a higher impact on the nurses’ behavioral intention of patient education. Therefore, it is suggested to pay more attention to this determinant.