ISSN: 2640-2734
Authors: Rop S*
Background: Chronic pain being a common medical condition seen by clinicians has a significant socio economic and health burden to clients, clinicians and the health institution. Patients with chronic pain presents with limited activities and participation restrictions affecting their quality of life. Previous studies have shown clinician’s negative attitudes towards management of chronic pain. Objective: To determine, attitudes of clinicians towards assessment and management of patients with chronic pain in a tertiary hospital in Kenya. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study designed to utilize a quantitative approach, a questionnaire containing 77 items was used to collect data, this study adopted census method of sampling because of the small number of the study population (n=240). A total of 153 clinicians volunteered to participate in the study. Data was analyzed using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) Version 24. Descriptive statistics was calculated and presented in summary tables and bar graphs. Chi-Square test was calculated to determine the association between sociodemographic characteristics and level of knowledge, attitudes and practice. The statistical significant was accepted at P – value less than 0.05. Results: The response rate was 83.3% (n=153). Only 9% (n= 14) of the respondents believed to have positive attitudes. While 62% (n=95) had negative attitudes on cognitive/behavioral management of chronic pain. Few participants (9% n=14) had positive attitudes in assessment and measurement of chronic pain. Conclusion: The current study supports the concern about negative attitudes and poor practices among clinicians in tertiary healthcare institution. We believe that continuous medical educational on chronic pain, adopting chronic pain guidelines, and research on pain curriculum in medical training institutions are needed to improve clinician’s knowledge, attitudes and practices which may result to better chronic pain outcome.
Keywords: Chronic Pain; Attitudes; Health Workers
