[Testing an instrument measuring Italian nurses' knowledge and attitudes regarding pain].

AIM: To test the construct validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency of the Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain translated from English to Italian.

DESIGN: Validation study.

SETTING: Oncology, long term care wards and hospice of 5 different italian regions.

SAMPLE: 157 nurses divided in four groups according to the setting: students (29), general medical wards (35), oncology (43) and hospice (50).

METHODS: The instrument was translated and adapted from English to Italian by a group of experts in pain and by pilot-testing. It was completed by 90% of the sample and the percentage of correct answers and alpha Cronbach were calculated. The test-retest reliability was measured having the questionnaire completed after a 14 days time interval, by the nurses of medical wards.

RESULTS: The instrument discriminated between levels of expertise. Overall, the average percentage of correct answers was 52.7%: 40.7% for student nurses, 46% for general medicine nurses, 56.3% for oncology nurses and 62% for hospice nurses (P<0.001). Test-retest reliability was r = 0.97 and Cronbach's alfa was 0.69.

CONCLUSION: These results contribute to the validity and reliability of the Italian version of the Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain, show a limited knowledge in the four groups of nurses and provide the basis for other studies in oncology and palliative settings.