NURSES PERCEPTIONS OF IRRITABLE-BOWEL-SYNDROME (IBS) AND SUFFERERS OFIBS

The present study set out to discover nurses' attitudes towards, and b eliefs about, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and IBS sufferers. A 54-i tem questionnaire was completed by 254 qualified nurses from 18 London hospitals. Nurses rated statements relating to IBS on a scale from di sagree (1) to agree (5). Questionnaire items fell into four broad cate gories. The first related to the way nurses felt about the sufferers o f IBS; the vast majority of nurses agreed with items stating that IBS patients are demanding, unable to cope with life, lazy and crave atten tion, and waste doctors' time. The second category related to nurses' beliefs regarding their knowledge of the syndrome; only half the sampl e believed that they would recognize the symptoms of IB and that they had a good understanding of the disorder. Ratings on items relating to the nurses' general knowledge of the symptoms showed that between a q uarter and a half of the sample felt uncertain about the veracity of t he statements. A fourth category was the nurses' beliefs regarding the attitudes held by health professionals, with half of the sample belie ving that doctors and health professionals generally had a poor unders tanding of IBS. Surprisingly, results showed that older, more experien ced nurses, and those suffering from the syndrome were not more sympat hetic and understanding than younger, non-sufferers. The present study shows that the majority of nurses hold negative attitudes towards IBS sufferers, which can only be detrimental to the treatment of those pa tients with IBS.