Translation, validation and comparison of three behavioural pain assessment tools for patients who cannot communicate verbally
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Date
01/07/2016Author
Hsiung, Nai-Huan
Metadata
Abstract
Aim
The thesis set out to examine validations of three observational pain assessment
tools and establish nurses’ expectations of them and the factors that might influence
them within intensive care unit (ICU) settings.
Background
The guidelines to pain assessment specific to ICU patients have been of great
interest to health professionals over the last 20 years. Pain assessment remains a
challenge for most ICU patients due to the difficulty of assessing pain with any
precision. Evidence suggests that the Behavioural Pain Scale (BPS) and Critical-
Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) have demonstrated sound psychometric
properties. A review of the relevant literature highlighted the fact that no such
studies have yet been conducted with a similar homogenous group in Asia. The
Wong-Baker Face Pain Rating Scale (FPRS) is currently widely used for
nonverbally communicating patients (NVCPs) with pain in ICU settings, and is
even recommended for use with children. Valid assessment tools are required for
effective pain assessment in ICU settings, particularly in patients who are
experiencing communication difficulties.
Design
An embedded mixed methods design was employed to: 1) translate Chinese
versions of BPS and CPOT, 2) test their validity and reliability of in comparison
with FPRS, and 3) establish the nurses’ expectations about the three study scales
when undertaking pain assessment by using semi-structured focus group interviews.
Methods
This thesis initially reviews the literature available to select the most appropriate
scales for assessing pain in critically-ill NVCPs. The selected scales were then
translated into a Traditional-Chinese version using established procedures for the
Taiwanese context. Evaluations of the three pain scales were gathered using
quantitative measures of pain scores in NVCPs experiencing painless/painful
interventions. These were further compared with a few focus groups to establish the
feasibility and utility of the three pain scales.
The psychometric properties of the pain scales were assessed for reliability by using
internal consistency and inter-rater agreement) and for validity by using content
validity, concurrent validity, discriminant validity, and responsiveness. The validity
was evaluated using ANOVA to compare the changes between the different
procedures. The significance level was set at 0.05. As for the analysis of the
qualitative data, this study typically follows the path of aggregating the words into
themes of information and presenting the diversity of ideas gathered during the data
collection.
Results
For the 2068 observations in 237 patients, there were no statistical differences
between the characteristics of the BPS, CPOT, and FPRS groups. Validity was
demonstrated by changes from baseline in the scores of the three groups, which
were significantly higher during suction (p < 0.001). In regard to the result for the
criterion validity, both BPS and CPOT had moderate positive correlations with
FPRS. The internal consistency was excellent; the Cronbach’s α was 0.700 for BPS
and 0.821 for CPOT when all items were included.
The majority of nurses preferred to use BPS to assess pain in their clinical practice.
When the nurses were asked how long they needed and how easy they found it to
complete the assessments using these tools, they all agreed that each patient
assessments were easier and took the least time when they used FRPS. However,
the nurses considered that the most effective pain reaction during nociceptive
procedures had been assessed by using BPS. Even though all of the participant
nurses stated that CPOT provides a detailed item-description about pain behaviour,
it also provided the biggest obstacle to use because of its ambiguous indicators.
Conclusions
BPS, CPOT and FRPS provide potentially useful measurement scales for assessing
pain in ICU NVCPs. However, judging from the inconsistencies between the nurses’
replies, the results could reflect a conflict between the need to use a validated
measure of pain for NVCPs on the one hand and managing a heavy workload in the
ICU on the other. This study opens up an avenue for investigating further the link
between the underlying conceptions of pain behaviour and the effectiveness of pain
assessments in NVCPs when using an objective pain measurement.