Evaluating Saudi Nursing Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes toward Cancer Pain Management: Implications for Nursing Education

Ineffective pain management has been recognized as a major problem faced by many patients with cancer. There is a lack of emphasis on cancer pain management in the undergraduate nursing curriculum which is one part of this problem. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with a convenience sample of 135 nursing students at two universities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to evaluate students’ current knowledge and attitudes toward cancer pain management. Data were collected using Pain Management Principles Assessment Test and Nurses’ Pain Management Attitudes Survey. The data were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22, and P < 0.05 was interpreted as significant. Descriptive and inferential statistics and Pearson correlations were performed. Nursing students have insufficient knowledge (11.4 ± 2.92) and negative attitudes (68.8 ± 5.75) toward cancer pain management. None of the nursing students achieved complete, correct responses (31 or 100%) in the knowledge test. Students had poor knowledge regarding areas of pain physiology and assessment, pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic pain management such as cutaneous stimulation. A weak positive significant relationship between students’ knowledge and attitudes was also found (r = 0.225, P = 0.009). Continued work is required to develop specific strategies to effectively teach nursing students and enhance their knowledge and attitudes toward cancer pain management.