Abstract
Purpose : The current study objective was to determine the attitudes of nursing students to death, perception of end-of life care, and perceptions of educational training needs in relation to the provision of end-of life care, and to apply the results to the development of an efficient and effective education program in this regard. Method : Data collection was carried out between March and April 2017, and was achieved through the administration of a questionnaire to 124 caregivers working in a nursing home in C. A self-report instrument was used to measure nursing attitudes to death, perceptions of end-of-life care, and perceptions of educational training needs in relation to the provision of end-of-life care. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS(R) Statistics for Windows(R)(version 21.0), and were calculated was whole numbers, percentages, $mean{\pm}standard$ deviation, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results : The average scores obtained were 2.85 out of a maximum of 4.00, 2.14 out of 4.00, and 2.42 out of 4.00, for attitudes to death, perceptions of end-of-life, and perceptions of educational training needs in relation to the provision of end-of-life care, respectively. A positive correlation was found between attitudes to death and perceptions of end-of-life care, and a negative correlation was found between perceptions of end-of-life care and educational training needs in relation to the provision of end-of-life care. Conclusion : The development and implementation of an educational program is necessary to ensure positive attitudes to death in nursing students and improve their perceptions about end-of-life care. Further research is also warranted to determine the impact of such a program in this regard.
