ABSTRACT 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.