Nurses' characteristics and their Attitudes toward Death and Caring for Dying Patients in a Public Hospital in Jordan
Abstract:
Background: Nurses are expected to care for death and many patients at their end-of-life (EOL) stage. Care of death and the dying provoke many undesired emotions and attitudes that reflect on the quality of patients' care. However, there are many factors that can affect nurses' attitudes towards caring for death and dying patients, such as nurses' demographics (age, gender, nursing experience, and others). Which deserve carefully designed studies. Yet, limited Jordanian studies addressing these factors are available
Aim: The present study aims to assess how Jordanian nurses providing care for terminal ill patients feel about death and caring for dying patients and to examine any relationships between their attitudes and certain nursing characteristics.
Methods: A descriptive quantitative design was utilized to accomplish the purpose of this study. A total of 155 nurses were recruited to participate in the study. The nurses' attitudes toward caring for dying patients were measured using the Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale. The nurses' attitudes toward death were measured using the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R) scale. The t-test and F-test were computed to examine the relationships between nurses' attitudes toward care of dying and death and demographic factors.
Results: The present study showed that statistical significant association was existed among age (P=.048;P=.049) and nursing experience (P=.000; P=.000) with nurses' attitudes toward death and caring for terminal ill patients, and the total scores on the FATCOD and DAP-R respectively. It also showed a significant correlation between nurses' attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients (P=.002).
Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, older registered nurses with more experience tended to have more positive attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients. Therefore, understanding the effect of nurses' factors that are associated with their attitudes toward care of dying and death can guide hospital and health care agencies to devel.
Keywords: Nurses' characteristics, nurses' attitudes, death, care of dying, terminal ill patients.
