Attitudes toward caring for terminally ill patients among community nurses in Shanghai: A cross-sectional study.
Yifei Xie, Tingting Cai, Aiyong Zhu and 3 others
PMID 40786859WHAT IT FOUND
Community nurses in Shanghai reported moderate attitudes toward caring for terminally ill patients.
Those with greater ability to cope with death and those who received blended death education held more positive attitudes. The lowest scores were for communicating with dying patients.
Key findings
01The overall score for attitudes toward caring for terminally ill patients was 102.27 ± 10.23 points.
02Death coping ability and blended death education were significant factors influencing community nurses' attitudes toward caring for terminally ill patients.
03The lowest-scoring dimension for attitudes was communication with the dying person (2.86 ± 0.52), while the highest was caring for the family (4.03 ± 0.53).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design prevents establishing causality between death coping ability, education, and attitudes. Self-reported data may be subject to response bias, with participants potentially over- or under-reporting their abilities and experiences. The sample was limited to community nurses in Shanghai, so findings may not generalize to other regions in China or other countries. Convenience sampling was used, which may introduce selection bias.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The study was funded by the “Climbing Plan” for Outstanding Young Teachers at Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences and the Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the association between blended death education and positive attitudes as proof that this specific educational format causes improved patient care. The study is cross-sectional and cannot determine whether the education improved attitudes or if nurses with better attitudes were more likely to seek out blended education. Furthermore, the low score in communication does not necessarily indicate a lack of skill, but rather a reported attitude, which may be influenced by cultural factors not fully explored here.