Determining pediatric nurses' anxiety levels, concerns, and metaphor perceptions towards artificial intelligence technologies: A mixed-method study

Abstract

Aim

This study was conducted to determine the anxiety levels, concerns, and metaphor perceptions of pediatric nurses towards artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Design and methods

A mixed-method research design was used in this study. This study was conducted with 422 pediatric nurses in Turkey. The data were collected through an “Introductory Information Form”, the “Artificial Intelligence Anxiety Scale”, and a “Semi-Structured Interview Form” via face-to-face interviews.

Results

A total score of 48.29 ± 13.53 was obtained from the Artificial Intelligence Anxiety Scale applied to the participants. In order to gain deeper insight into their perspectives, participants were also asked the open-ended question: “What do you think about the use of AI in pediatric nursing practices?” When the sentiment analysis of the answers to this question was examined, it was seen that 30.5% of pediatric nurses evaluated the use of AI positively, and 69.5% had a negative perspective. Additionally, to explore specific concerns, the participants were asked: “What are you most concerned about the use of AI in pediatric nursing practices?” When the sentiment analysis distributions of the answers given to this question were examined, it was determined that 5.1 % were positive and 94.9 % negative.

Conclusions

This study shows that pediatric nurses, despite recognizing AI's potential to reduce workload, errors, and improve care, largely perceive it negatively due to concerns about empathy, role shifts, ethics, credibility, technical issues, privacy, and malpractice.

Practice implications

Addressing nurses' knowledge gaps through training is key to safe and effective AI use in pediatric care.