Child Health Nurs Res.  2019 Jan;25(1):38-47. 10.4094/chnr.2019.25.1.38.

Influence of Perceptions of Death, End-of-Life Care Stress, and Emotional Intelligence on Attitudes towards End-of-Life Care among Nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

• Park JY
• Oh J

• KMID: 2433556
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4094/chnr.2019.25.1.38

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of perceptions of death, end-of-life (EOL) care stress, and emotional intelligence on attitudes toward EOL care among nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
METHODS
The participants were 111 nurses working in a NICU who had experienced EOL care at least once. Data were analyzed using the t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression analysis in SPSS for Windows.
RESULTS
The mean score for perceptions of death was 3.16 out of 5, the mean score for EOL care stress was 3.61 out of 5, the mean emotional intelligence score was 4.66 out of 7, and the average score for EOL care attitudes was 2.77 out of 4. The factors affecting attitudes towards EOL care were academic degree, anxiety regarding death, negativity towards death, experiences of patient death, and emotional intelligence. The explanatory power of these variables for attitudes towards EOL care was 24.7%.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study are expected to serve as a basic reference for the development of nursing education programs and EOL care protocols to improve attitudes toward EOL care among NICU nurses.

Keyword

Newborn; Critical care; Emotional intelligence; Terminal care; Attitude

MeSH Terms

Anxiety
Critical Care
Education, Nursing
Emotional Intelligence*
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Intensive Care, Neonatal*
Terminal Care