(Dis)Agreement with Dysthanasia, Religiosity and Spiritual Experience as Factors Related to Nurses’ Workload during End-of-Life Care

Abstract

This study intended to investigate whether the workload of nurses in the course of providing end-of-life care correlated with their religiousness, spiritual experience and level of agreement with dysthanasia procedures. The respondents included 279 nurses from four Croatian hospitals. A structured and validated instrument was applied. Almost 90% of respondents are religious, and almost 45% of them have daily spiritual experiences. Respondents, especially those with high levels of religiousness and spiritual experience, express a low level of agreement with dysthanasia (mean = 58.21; score = 25–125). Moreover, nurses self-rated (on a scale of 1–5) their workload as quite high, especially when performing contradictory tasks imposed on them by their superiors (mean = 3.05) and during direct contact with dying patients and their family members (mean = 2.56). This significantly highest level of workload was experienced by the youngest nurses (p = 0.01) and nurses with little work experience (p < 0.01). This study also indicated that nurses who agree with dysthanasia experienced a higher level of workload when providing end-of-life care (r = 0.178; p < 0.01), while more frequent spiritual experiences reduced the level of workload (r = −0.205; p < 0.01). A deeper understanding of nurses’ attitudes toward dysthanasia, as well as of their religiousness and spiritual experiences, may ensure the collection of data beneficial to the timely identification of potential risks caused by workload.

Registered Nurses' beliefs about end‐of‐life care: A mixed method study

“…However, the study also revealed that RNs' cultural, religious, educational and/or ethnic backgrounds may influence end‐of‐life nursing practices (Rittle, 2015 ). This is consistent with existing literature that highlights how cultural norms and education play a crucial role in shaping RNs' beliefs about death and dying and influence the provision of care (Binda et al, 2021 ; Juranić et al, 2023 ). These findings highlight the need to examine these factors to develop recommendations for improving end‐of‐life care practices in Saudi Arabia and internationally.…”

Between Euthanasia and Dysthanasia: The Ethical Issue of Sedation in the Terminal Phase of Illness

“…The rapid development of modern technology in all scientific fields, including clinical medicine, has intensified efforts to prolong the life of healthy people, as well as those suffering from serious or terminal illness [13]. Dysthanasia (from Greek: dys, difficult; and thanatos-death; meaning "to die with difficulty") is a relatively new concept developed within bioethics, and refers to the application of medical procedures designed to maintain life at all costs, even when the disease is not curable, and the medical procedures often prolong the patient's pain and suffering.…”

“…Consequently, dysthanasia is more fre-quently studied and discussed in scientific and professional literature. In high-tech hospitals around the world, dysthanasia procedures are becoming commonplace and are practiced when doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers are pressured by patients' families to do everything in their power to keep patients alive [13].…”