Effect of CORE on Knowledge and Attitude Levels Regarding Pain Assessment

March 16, 2026 updated by: Müjgan ONARICI, Çankırı Karatekin University

The Effect of CORE on Nursing Students' Knowledge and Attitude Levels Regarding Pain Assessment: Randomized Controlled Trial

CORE is an assessment tool that uses written scenarios designed to address problems that students may encounter in real clinical settings. These scenarios are presented at different stations. It enables educators to conduct more objective evaluations during the learning process, contributing to effective learning by providing students with immediate feedback. This research will examine the effect of CORE on nursing students' knowledge and attitudes regarding pain assessment. The study will be conducted using a randomised controlled experimental design. The study population will consist of senior nursing students taking the Nursing Professional Practice II course in the spring semester of the 2025/26 academic year at a nursing department in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey (n = 100). The sample for the study will consist of students who agree to participate in the research. Students will be randomized into intervention and control groups based on their pre-test knowledge scores. Research data will be collected using the "Personal Information Form" "Pain Knowledge Test", "Nursing Students' Attitudes Scale Toward Pain Assessment" and "CORE Satisfaction Form". Approval from the ethical committee has been obtained for the research to be conducted, and written permission has been requested from the institution in which the research will take place. Before starting the research, students will be informed about it and asked to provide written informed consent. Students in the intervention group will perform the CORE application on tablets using case scenarios prepared for pain assessment in the Nursing Skills Laboratory. Data collection tools will be administered three times: pre-test, post-test, and retention test. Only the "CORE Satisfaction Form" will be administered to students in the intervention group to assess their satisfaction after the CORE application. Descriptive statistics and the Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test for dependent groups will be used in the analysis of the data.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Study procedure:

  • Research data will be collected from students enrolled on the Practice II course of the Nursing Profession programme during the spring semester of the 2025/26 academic year. The following tests and questionnaires will be administered as pre-tests before the topic is explained during the first week of the semester's face-to-face theoretical training:

    • A "Personal Information Form"
    • A "Pain Knowledge Test"
    • The "Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward Pain Assessment Scale" Pain and CORE training will then be provided.
  • Before the study begins, students will be informed about it and their written informed consent will be obtained.
  • The intervention and control groups will be randomised based on their pre-test knowledge scores using www.randomizer.org.

Following randomisation, intervention group students will use the CORE application on a tablet with case scenarios prepared for pain assessment in the Nursing Skills Laboratory on the fifth day after theoretical training.

One day after implementation, both groups will take the 'Pain Knowledge Test' and the 'Nursing Students' Attitudes Towards Pain Assessment Scale' again, this time as a post-test. The 'CORE Satisfaction Form' will be given to the intervention group to measure their satisfaction with the CORE experience.

• Two weeks after the CORE implementation, both groups will take the 'Pain Knowledge Test' and the 'Nursing Students' Attitudes Towards Pain Assessment Scale' again, this time as a retention test to assess knowledge retention and attitude levels.

After the data collection phase of the study is complete, CORE will also be administered to the control group.

• Before implementation, a pilot study will be conducted with five students from outside the target group to assess the clarity of the data collection forms and the length of the CORE scenarios.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

88

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
      • Çankırı, Turkey (Türkiye), 18200
        • Çankırı Karatekin University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Volunteering to participate in research
  • Taking the Nursing Professional Courses Practicum II course
  • Participating in pain education
  • Participating in CORE training

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not attending training
  • Not completing data collection tools

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: CORE application
During the study implementation process, a knowledge test and attitude scale will be administered as a pretest, posttest, and retention test. Case scenarios prepared for pain assessment will be applied to the intervention group students as CORE application.
Behavioral: CORE application
Case scenarios prepared for pain assessment will be applied to the intervention group students as CORE application.
No Intervention: Control
During the study implementation process, a knowledge test and attitude scale will be administered as a pretest, posttest, and retention test.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
1. Differences of knowledge scores between groups
Time Frame: To assess their knowledge levels, the pretest was administered in the first week, the posttest in the second week (1 day after the CORE application), and the retention test in the fourth week. Total duration: 4 weeks.
Pre-test, post-test and retention tests were applied to measure the level of knowledge. The 'Pain Knowledge Test', which was prepared by the researchers, will be used to assess knowledge levels. The test consists of ten questions. It will be marked out of 100. Test scores obtained at three different times will be compared. Higher post-test and retention test scores than pre-test scores suggest an increase in knowledge.
To assess their knowledge levels, the pretest was administered in the first week, the posttest in the second week (1 day after the CORE application), and the retention test in the fourth week. Total duration: 4 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Differences in Attitude Scores Towards Pain Assessment Between Groups
Time Frame: To assess attitudes, a pre-test was administered in the first week, a post-test in the second week (1 day after the CORE application), and a retention test in the fourth week. Total duration: 4 weeks.
Pre-test, post-test and retention tests were applied to measure attitudes. The "Nursing Students' Attitudes Scale Toward Pain Assessment" scale will be used to evaluate students' attitudes towards pain assessment. The scale consists of 15 items and two subfactors. Factor 1 represents the importance of pain assessment, while Factor 2 represents the interest subscale. The minimum possible score is 15, and the maximum possible score is 75. As the scale score increases, so do nursing students' positive attitudes towards pain assessment.
To assess attitudes, a pre-test was administered in the first week, a post-test in the second week (1 day after the CORE application), and a retention test in the fourth week. Total duration: 4 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Çankırı Karatekin University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: MÜJGAN ONARICI, PhD, Çankırı Karatekin University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 16, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 18, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

March 10, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 17, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 24, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

December 5, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 16, 2026

Last Verified

December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CAKÜ

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

in progress

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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