Validity and reliability of the Neonatal Infant Acute Pain Assessment Scale (NIAPAS) in Turkish: prospective study.

BACKGROUND

Using pain scales helps nurses in making early diagnoses and in assessing and managing pain symptoms and findings when developing a nursing care plan.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the validity and reliability of the Turkish form of the Neonatal Infant Acute Pain Assessment Scale (NIAPAS).

DESIGN AND

SETTING

Prospective study conducted in Istanbul Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.

METHODS

145 newborns in the 26th to 42nd gestational weeks that were receiving treatment and care in the neonatal intensive care unit were included in this study. A total of 1740 pain assessments were made by two independent observers on these 145 newborns. The research data was collected using a newborn description form, NIAPAS and the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS).

RESULTS

The scope validity index of NIAPAS was found to be between 0.90 and 1.00 and its Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.914. Correlations between characteristics and total scores (r = 0.20-0.82) were found to be sufficiently high. In an assessment on concurrency validity, there was a strong positive relationship between NIAPAS and NIPS scores (r = 0.73-0.82; P < 0.000). From kappa analysis (0.73-0.99) and intraclass correlation (r = 0.75-0.96), it was determined that there was concordance between the observers.

CONCLUSION

NIAPAS was found to be a valid and reliable scale for evaluating acute pain in newborns.