J Nurs Acad Soc.  1988 Dec;18(3):231-238.

Discrepancy in the scores of uncertainty perceived by patients and nurses' interperson perception

• Hahn YB
• Kirn MJ
• Ro YJ
• Kim NC
• Kim HS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare discrepancy in the scores of uncertainty perceived by patients and nurses' interperson perception. For this study, 124 hospitalized patients and the same numbered nurses assigned for direct care of each 124 patients were selected from general ward of C. University Hospital in Seoul during the time period from September to November 1987. Degree of uncertainty was measured by 27 items modified from Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale (M-UIS), and was utilized by a Likert type scale The data were analysed by Menemar-test, Unpaired t-test, ANOVA. Scheffe-test and Stepwise multiple regression. The results are summarized as follows: 1. The discrepancy in the scores of uncertainty perceived by patients and nurses' interperson perception showed significant differences in 23 of 27 items : 11 of 23 items showed that the scores of patients' perception of uncertainty were higher than that of nurses' interperson perception of uncertainty but 12 of 23 items were revealed reversely. 2. With regard to nurse's demographic variables, the discrepancy scores were the higest in the group under 22 years of age (F=3.20, p=.026) and in the group less than 1 year of nursing experience among 4 groups (F=4.41, p=.006). 3. The discrepancy scores had a tendency to be lowered in the higher age group(r= - .27, p=.0026) and in the longer experienced group (r=-.25, p=.0052). 4. The most important variable affecting the discrepancy scores was identified to be the nurses' age which acounted for 7.2% fo the total variances in the stepwise multiple regression analysis. This was followed by patient hospital days which accounted for an additional 4.5% of the total variances. To conclude, the discrepancy in the scores of uncertainty perceived by patients and nurses' interperson perception showed significant differences in 23 of 27 items. The discrepancy scores of uncertainty had a tendancy to be lowered in the higher age group and in the longer experienced group.

MeSH Terms

Adult
Humans
Inpatients/*psychology
*Nurse-Patient Relations
Patients/*psychology
Psychological Tests
Statistics as Topic