Nursing Students' Approaches Toward Euthanasia

Background:

In Turkey, which is a secular, democratic nation with a majority Muslim population, euthanasia is illegal and regarded as murder. Nurses and students can be faced with ethical dilemmas and a lack of a legal basis, with a conflict of religious beliefs and social and cultural values concerning euthanasia. The aim of this study was to investigate undergraduate nursing students' attitudes towards euthanasia.

Method:

The study, which had a descriptive design, was conducted with 600 students. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year nursing students at a school of nursing were contacted in May 2009, and 383 students (63.8% of the study population of a total of 600 students) gave informed consent. Two tools were used in accordance with questionnaire preparation rules.

Results:

The majority of students were female and single (96.9%), and their mean age was 21.3 ± 1.5 years. A majority (78.9%) stated they had received no training course/education on the concept of euthanasia. Nearly one-third (32.4%) of the students were against euthanasia; 14.3% of the students in the study agreed that if their relatives had an irreversible, lethal condition, passive euthanasia could be performed. In addition, 24.8% of the students agreed that if they themselves had an irreversible, lethal condition, passive euthanasia could be performed. Less than half (42.5%) of the students thought that discussions about euthanasia could be useful. There was a significant relation between the study year and being against euthanasia ( p < 0.05), the idea that euthanasia could be abused ( p < 0.05), and the idea that euthanasia was unethical ( p < 0.05).

Conclusion:

It was concluded that the lack of legal regulations, ethical considerations, religious beliefs, and work experience with dying patients affect nursing students' attitudes towards euthanasia.

Determining the satisfaction levels of the family members of patients with advanced-stage cancer

Objective:

The objective of our study was to determine the satisfaction levels of family members of patients with advanced-stage cancer.

Method:

This descriptive study was conducted in the palliative care and medical oncology clinics of a university hospital in the province of Izmir between April of 2011 and January of 2012. The study sample consisted of a total of 145 family members, who were selected from among the family members of patients with advanced-stage cancer receiving palliative treatment. The study data were obtained using the Patient Description Form and Family Satisfaction Scale during face-to-face interviews with patients.

Results:

Some 67% of patients were female and 33% male, 70% were married, 35% were high school graduates, and 34.5% were housewives. The average total family satisfaction score was 76.87 ± 1.14, and the average scores for the component variables were as follows: information giving 74.37 ± 1.28, availability of care 78.40 ± 1.17, physical care 78.99 ± 1.09, and psychosocial care 74.52 ± 1.30. We found a relationship between the level of satisfaction of family members and (1) gender, (2) occupation, (3) presence of someone supporting the care, and (4) possession of sufficient information about the patient (p < 0.05).

Significance of Results:

Satisfaction levels of participants were determined to be high. We found that family member satisfaction levels were affected by gender and occupation, the existence of someone supporting the care, and possession of sufficient information about the patient.