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This qualitative study describes the attitudes of four groups of people in cancer care toward active euthanasia. Patients (32) with incurable cancer, their family members (13), nurses (13) and physicians (13) participated in the study which was carried out in two central hospitals and in four health centres in Finland. The data was collected by means of focused interviews which were taped, transcribed and then analysed by content analysis. More than half of the participants said that they could ethically justify active euthanasia. Most of these were family members and nurses. The main reasons for their ethical justification were the terminal illness of the patient, the presence of suffering and pain and the patient's own request. Those who could not justify active euthanasia said that one human being has no right to decide death of another. Potential abuse, uncertainty about the finality of the situation, the possibility of effective alleviation of symptoms and the effects which the practice might have on medical staff were also mentioned by this group. The results of this study support the assumption given in the earlier literature that attitudes toward active euthanasia are most positive where terminally ill cancer patients are concerned.

The purpose of the study reported here was to describe Finnish nurses' research and publication activities, as well as their views on the availability and utilization of research results in nursing practice. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire in which obstacles to the utilization of research results were measured with a previously developed instrument. A total of 400 nurses from community health centres, a central hospital and a central university hospital took part. Most of the nurses had carried out research on their own. Age, experience, training in research and development and other further training, as well as reading the nursing literature, were associated with doing research. Some of the reasons why the nurses had not carried out research were revealed. Publication of results was very rare. There were problems with the availability of research results. The most common obstacles to research utilization had to do with the presentation of results and the setting. In research utilization, respondents received most support from the ward manager and least support from doctors. If we want to encourage nurses to do research and increase the utilization of research results, greater effort should be invested in teaching research methodology, in introducing more flexible working hours and in developing other support systems.

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The results reported in this article are drawn from a larger study aimed at describing and explaining the support provided by nursing staff to the families of patients with cancer. The purpose of this component of the study was to explore the views of nursing staff on the importance of spiritual support as well as their readiness and willingness to provide that support. A further concern was with the provision of spiritual support, obstacles to providing support, and related factors. A total of 166 nurses (registered nurses and licensed practical nurses) from 5 central hospitals in Finland participated. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire in which spiritual support was measured by multiple-choice items and one open-ended question. Analysis of the multiple-choice items was based on SPSS statistical software, and interpretation of the responses to the open-ended question relied on the method of content analysis. There was broad agreement on the importance of providing spiritual support to family members, however, 58% of the nurses believed they were poorly equipped to provide support and 53% were less or not at all willing to provide spiritual support. Willingness to provide support was lowest among licensed practical nurses. Willingness and readiness to provide support were related to on another. Overall, nursing staff rarely discussed spiritual issues with or offered spiritual support to family members. The study also revealed many obstacles to the provision of spiritual support. The age of nursing staff and the type of ward were associated with the provision of spiritual support.