Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Pediatric Pain Management: Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Initial Psychometric Evaluation of the Polish HUPEDCARE-Q Among Healthcare Students and Professionals.

Background/Objectives: Pediatric pain management remains a significant clinical challenge, with contemporary biopsychosocial models increasingly emphasizing humanized care and non-pharmacological strategies. This study aimed to culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the HUPEDCARE-Q (Humanisation of Pediatric Care in Pain Management with a Non-Pharmacological Approach) questionnaire among healthcare professionals and students. An additional objective was to explore differences in knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices across different age groups and stages of professional development. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted. The cross-cultural adaptation process included independent forward translations, reconciliation, back-translation, and an expert panel review. Data were collected using online surveys. Construct validity was evaluated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while internal consistency reliability was assessed using McDonald's omega coefficient and the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (KR-20). Group differences were analyzed utilizing the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Because the original factor structure exhibited a suboptimal fit to the data, a revised and reduced Polish version was proposed, which demonstrated significantly improved fit indices (CFI = 0.91 for the attitudes and knowledge domains; CFI = 0.99 for the pain management domain). Exploratory bivariate analyses showed higher knowledge and attitudes scores among older participants and working professionals, whereas no statistically significant differences were observed in self-reported pediatric pain management practices. Conclusions: The revised Polish short-form adaptation of the HUPEDCARE-Q showed improved model fit and domain-specific psychometric performance, with strong internal consistency for the pediatric pain management domain, acceptable reliability for the knowledge domain, and moderate reliability for the attitudes domain. Therefore, the instrument should be interpreted as a preliminary screening and assessment tool rather than as a fully established measure with uniformly strong reliability across all domains. The observed discrepancy between higher knowledge and attitude scores and the absence of significant differences in self-reported practices may suggest that knowledge and attitudes alone are not sufficient to explain differences in self-reported pediatric pain management practices.