Beliefs and attitudes about chronic pain among public health professionals: cross-sectional study

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The barriers of scientific knowledge and adequate training can influence the skills of health professionals in the management of chronic pain in non-specialized environments. The aim of this study was to assess the beliefs and attitudes of the Brazilian public health care system's (Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS) professionals who work in the care of patients with chronic pain in the clinical routine. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study carried out with non-specialized pain professionals from primary and medium-complexity care, assessed by the Inventory of Attitudes towards Pain. Participants were grouped by place of work and length of training for comparison analysis using the t-test for independent samples. Effect sizes were calculated (η² generalized), and the level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: Seventy health professionals took part in this study. They presented undesirable beliefs about curing pain and caring behaviors. They also had desirable beliefs about the influence of emotions, the relationship between pain and tissue damage and the possibility of control by those who feel it. An effect of place of practice was also observed, with undesirable beliefs among primary care professionals about pain-related disability, and also an effect on length of training for the control domain, with less desirable beliefs among those with less than ten years of training. CONCLUSION: The undesirable beliefs presented by the health professionals allow for a situational diagnosis that indicates the need for continuing education in chronic pain in order to implement training with evidence-based practices in the SUS care routine.

Keywords

• chronic pain
• health belief model
• public health