Comparing Knowledge and Attitudes Toward the Braden Scale for Pressure Injury Risk Assessment by Nurses: Before and After the Educational Intervention

Abstract

Pressure injuries are considered an adverse quality care indicator among hospitalized patients. Despite the importance of routine assessment and pressure injury prevention strategies, nurses may often neglect them. In Ethiopia, pressure injury risk assessment tool such as the Braden Scale has not been reported or implemented in hospital settings. to examine the feasibility of the Braden Scale by assessing the knowledge and attitude of nurses before and after an educational intervention, and testing three delivery methods: printed, oral, or a combination. A quasi-experimental cluster study, on a sample of 145 nurses was conducted. The Participants were selected from units with patients often bedridden and more likely to develop a pressure injury during their hospital stay. Data was collected using structured self-administered questionnaires. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test and independent group test (one-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test) were used to analyze the data. 68.3% of nurses, were female, with a mean age of 29.4 + 4.9 years and 66.7% had no prior information about the Braden Scale. The overall mean scores change of the pre-to-post educational intervention for knowledge and attitude was statistically significant, p < .001, with a large effect size, 1.95 and 0.81, respectively. nurses attending a brief educational program are feasible and, as a result, are more knowledgeable and have a more positive attitude about utilizing the Braden Scale. Future research is needed on how educational programs such as the ones provided increase the acceptability and implementation of the Braden Scale in practice settings.