Finnish nurses’ attitudes towards their role in the euthanasia process
Background:Nurses’ voices remain unheard in most debates about euthanasia, although their crucial role in the euthanasia process is widely acknowledged. Moreover, in Canadian euthanasia law, nurses have a more active role, which further highlights the need for knowledge about nurses’ attitudes towar...
| Authors: | ; ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2019
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| In: |
Nursing ethics
Year: 2019, Volume: 26, Issue: 3, Pages: 700-714 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethics
B Nursing B web-based survey B Attitude B Social media B Finland B Euthanasia |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Background:Nurses’ voices remain unheard in most debates about euthanasia, although their crucial role in the euthanasia process is widely acknowledged. Moreover, in Canadian euthanasia law, nurses have a more active role, which further highlights the need for knowledge about nurses’ attitudes towards their role in the euthanasia process.Research questions:What are Finnish nurses’ attitudes towards their potential role in the euthanasia process? Which characteristics are associated with those attitudes?Research design:Cross-sectional web-based survey.Participants and research context:1003 nurses, recruited via social media and the members’ bulletin of the Finnish Nurses Association.Ethical considerations:Ethical approval was obtained from the Committee on Research Ethics of the university to which the first author was affiliated.Findings:The great majority (85.2%) of nurses felt that their perspective should be considered in decision-making related to euthanasia. Furthermore, most of the participants (74.7%) reported willingness to participate in the euthanasia process if it were legal, and 88.6% agreed that a nurse should be present when euthanasia is performed if the patient wishes so. Furthermore, over half agreed that some of the preparatory tasks were part of their job description. However, a minority (32.9%) agreed with a possible obligation to participate based on their profession. Nurses’ age, religiosity and educational level influenced their attitudes in the current results.Discussion:Despite the strong agreement on decision-making concerning euthanasia and participation in the euthanasia process, obligation to participate based on the profession was rejected by most participants. Nurses regarded themselves as consultants in the decision-making process, which may indicate their unwillingness to share the responsibility for the decision itself.Conclusion:Specific safety mechanisms should be considered to protect nurses who refuse to be involved in the euthanasia process due to harm that involuntary participation might cause. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-0989 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0969733017720850 |