Benefits of Digital Storytelling Towards Holistic Pain Assessment Among Nursing Students: A Validation Study Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling

Abstract

This study aims to test the psychometric properties of the “Holistic Pain Assessment Questionnaire” among nursing students. It also investigated the relationships between compassionate, emphatic communication, active listening, patient advocacy, preventative care knowledge, and holistic nursing education. By employing Martha Rogers’ Theory of Unitary Human Beings, the study explored the effectiveness of digital storytelling in pain assessment instruction. The data exhibits non-significant skewness (z = 576, χ² = 560, p = .312), while kurtosis is marginally significant (z = -1.93, χ² = 209, p = .054). Results showed that exposure to digital storytelling improved nursing students’ caring skills scores. Structural equation modeling demonstrated good fit to the data, supported by non-significant p-values and acceptable fit indices like SRMR and RMSEA. Pretest Q3 (0.7414) had the highest R², and Posttest 2 Q4 (0.7795) had the highest among posttest questions. Pretest Q5 (0.8983) and Posttest 2 Average (0.8748) had notably high R² values, indicating strong explanatory power. However, compassionate, emphatic communication, active listening, and patient advocacy showed negative R² values. Most estimates were statistically significant, except for active listening in relation to holistic nursing education. There was a significant positive association between preventative care knowledge and holistic nursing education (β = 0.1922, p < .001, 95% CI: [0.1124, 0.2719]), indicating a correlation between increased preventative care knowledge and higher levels of holistic nursing education, further supported by a strong z-value of 4.724. The study underscores the potential of digital storytelling for holistic nursing education.

Keywords: pain assessment, holistic, CFA, SEM

DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/116-04

Publication date: May 30th 2024