Developing a Measure of End-of-Life Care Nursing Knowledge for Japanese Geriatric Nurses

Abstract

This study developed an end-of-life (EOL) care nursing knowledge scale for Japanese geriatric nurses (ELNKS-JG) to measure nurse knowledge of EOL care for older adults. It also was used to evaluate the quality of The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium–Japan Geriatric. Participants were 1168 nurses employed in 32 institutions across Japan. The items of our measure were developed to cover 8 important topics: principles of EOL care for older adults; pain management; symptom management; ethics of care; cultural and spiritual considerations; communication; loss, grief, and bereavement; and caring for final days. The measure included 51 items with an overall Cronbach α coefficient of 0.87 and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.81. Our measure, the ELNKS-JG, was confirmed to have good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, content validity, and known-groups validity. This scale’s items included knowledge about noncancerous diseases, physical changes due to aging, family care, and multidisciplinary collaboration. The ELNKS-JG comprehensively measures a nurse’s knowledge of EOL care for older adults in any EOL setting. Furthermore, this scale can evaluate educational programs aimed at improving care quality and encouraging related activities in facilities that provide EOL care.

The mediating role of religion and loneliness on the association between reminiscence functions and depression: a call to advance older adults' mental health

“…Instrumental reminiscence is a process in which a facilitator assists the individual in identifying past coping skills to deal with present‐day problems, such as grieving over a loss 15 . They could conduct grief counselling by helping the bereaved recognise and constructively address their whole range of feelings 60 . Those nurses might be able to help find healthy ways to deal with stress and replace unhealthy coping mechanisms.…”

“…15 They could conduct grief counselling by helping the bereaved recognise and constructively address their whole range of feelings. 60 Those nurses might be able to help find healthy ways to deal with stress and replace unhealthy coping mechanisms. Grief counselling uses instrumental reminiscence techniques that help the grieving person accept the loss and its effects and deal with problems that come up along the way.…”

Effect of an end‐of‐life gerontological nursing education programme on the attitudes and knowledge of clinical nurses: A non‐randomised controlled trial

“…The overall Cronbach's α coefficient of this tool was 0.87, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.81. The ELNKS‐JG has good internal consistency, test–retest reliability, content validity, and known‐groups validity (Okumura‐Hiroshige et al, ). This tool's Cronbach's α was 0.84.…”