The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of preoperative pain control education on the pain control barrier, postoperative pain and pain control satisfaction in gynecological patients.

The study was a quasi-experimental research design. There were 58 subjects who were admitted for gynecological surgery to D University Hospital in B city. Pain control education was provided individually to the experimental group one day before their operation day for 20 minutes with the ‘ Pain Control Guide Book’ in the patient's admission room. The education book was made by researchers based on pain management references and patient interviews. For assessing the pain control barrier, a simplified version of Barriers Questionnaire was used, postoperative pain was assessed on a numeric scale(0-10) and satisfaction of pain control was assessed by one question.

The pain control barrier(F=15.828, p<.001) and the post pain score of the experimental group was lower than that of the control group. In addition, pain control satisfaction of the experimental group(t=3.612, p<.001) was higher than the control group's.

With the above results, preoperative pain control education could be an effective nursing intervention for pain control of surgical patients.

The purpose of this study was to identify the attitude of nurses toward transsexuals.

The Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used. Twenty-nine nurses classified the 50 selected Q-statements into a normal distribution using a 9 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using the Quanl PC program.

Four types of attitudes toward transsexuals were identified. The first type (humanitarian acceptance) showed an attitude of respecting transsexuals as human beings and understanding and accepting their desires and difficulties. The second type (superficial understanding) understood the psychological conflicts and suffering of transsexuals but could not accept them as members of families or society. The third type (insufficient understanding) did not feel a sense of rejection toward transsexuals but showed a lack of understanding of their desires and difficulties. The fourth type (rejection) failed to understand the desires and difficulties of transsexuals and showed a sense of rejection toward them, in addition to regarding them as sexually immoral people.

The results of the study indicate that different approaches of educational programs based on the four types of attitudes toward transsexuals are recommended.