Korean J Hosp Palliat Care.  2020 Sep;23(3):114-125. 10.14475/kjhpc.2020.23.3.114.

The Effects of Nurses’ Knowledge of Withdrawal of LifeSustaining Treatment, Death Anxiety, Perceptions of Hospice on Their Attitudes toward Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment

• Lee YE
• Jung YJ
• Jang YN
• Jeong HE

• KMID: 2506078
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14475/kjhpc.2020.23.3.114

Abstract

Purpose
This descriptive study investigated the effects of nurses’ knowledge of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, death anxiety, and perceptions of hospice care on their attitudes toward withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.
Methods
Data were collected from 262 nurses at tertiary hospitals, general hospitals, or primary hospitals in Busan, Korea, and statistically analyzed using the t-test, analysis of variance, the Scheffé test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression analysis.
Results
The participants’ scores were 3.68±0.45 (out of 5) for attitudes toward withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, 0.65± 0.15 (out of 1) for knowledge of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, 2.61±0.26 (out of 4) for death anxiety, and 4.06±0.43 (out of 5) for perceptions of hospice care. Furthermore, knowledge of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment and perceptions of hospice care showed positive correlations with attitudes toward withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, while death anxiety showed a negative correlation. The most significant factors influencing attitudes toward withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment were perceptions of hospice care, followed by having experienced caring for patients who withdrew life-sustaining treatment, death anxiety, having a spouse, and ethical values, and the overall explanatory power was 43.0%.
Conclusion
This study showed that perceptions of hospice were an important fac- tor influencing nurses’ attitudes toward withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment. Therefore,it is necessary to develop and validate educational intervention programs that can improve perceptions of hospice care.

Keyword

Nurses; Hospice care; Anxiety; Attitude; Terminal care