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Introduction: Considering the importance and pivotal role of nurses in pain management and control, it is necessary to know the psychological components affecting the attitude and performance of nurses. This study was also conducted with the aim of investigating the role of object relations and mentalization in predicting the attitude and performance of nurses in relation to the management of patients' pain.
Methods: The present study was descriptive-correlational, which was carried out by convenience sampling on 170 nurses working in the emergency department of hospitals and medical centers in Tehran in 2022. The research tools included the attitude and performance questionnaire in relation to pain management, Bell's Thematic Relations Scale, and reflective activity questionnaire. The research tools included attitude and performance questionnaire, Bell Object Relations Inventory and Reflective Functioning questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and multivariate regression analysis in SPSS-24 software.
Results: The results showed that there is a negative and significant correlation between the subscales of object relations (insecure attachment, alienation, social incompetence, and egocentricity) and the subscale of mentalization (uncertainty) with the attitude and performance of nurses in relation to the management of patients' pain (p<0.01).There is a positive and significant correlation between the subscale of mentalization (certainty) and the attitude and performance of nurses in relation to the management of patients' pain (p<0.01). The results of multiple regression analysis also revealed that 79.7% of the variance of nurses' attitudes regarding patient pain management and 64.7% of the variance of nurses' performance regarding patient pain management are explained by object relations and mentalization.
Conclusions: The results of the study showed the significant role of object relations and mentalization in predicting the attitude and performance of nurses in managing patients' pain. Therefore, educational programs based on the model of mentalization and object relations are suggested to improve the positive attitude and better performance of health and nursing workers in the field of patient pain management.