Nurses’ attitudes towards euthanasia in conflict with professional ethical guidelines
Background:Despite the significant role of nurses in end-of-life care, their attitudes towards euthanasia are under-represented both in the current literature and the controversial debate that is ongoing in several countries.Research questions:What are the attitudes towards euthanasia among Finnish...
| 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
2017
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| In: |
Nursing ethics
Year: 2017, Volume: 24, Issue: 1, Pages: 70-86 |
| Further subjects: | B
Ethics
B web-based survey B Attitude B Social media B Finland B registered nurse B Euthanasia |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Background:Despite the significant role of nurses in end-of-life care, their attitudes towards euthanasia are under-represented both in the current literature and the controversial debate that is ongoing in several countries.Research questions:What are the attitudes towards euthanasia among Finnish nurses? Which characteristics are associated with those attitudes?Research design:Cross-sectional web-based survey.Participants and research context:A total of 1003 nurses recruited via the members’ bulletin of the Finnish Nurses Association and social media.Ethical considerations:Ethical approval was obtained from the Committee on Research Ethics of the university to which the authors were affiliated.Findings:The majority (74.3%) of the participants would accept euthanasia as part of Finnish healthcare, and 61.8% considered that Finland would benefit from a law permitting euthanasia. Most of the nurses (89.9%) thought that a person must have the right to decide on his or her own death; 77.4% of them considered it likely that they would themselves make a request for euthanasia in certain situations.Discussion:The value of self-determination and the ability to choose the moment and manner of one’s death are emphasized in the nurses’ attitudes towards euthanasia.Conclusion:A continuous dialogue about euthanasia and nurses’ shared values is crucial due to the conflict between nurses’ attitudes and current ethical guidelines on nursing. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-0989 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0969733016643861 |