engleski

Attitude toward euthanasia in Croatian nurses-technicians

The role of health care in quality of life of terminally ill patients or patients with chronical illness is particularly emphasised. There is evident lack of research devoted to attitudes toward euthanasia in medical staff in Croatia, while foreign studies indicate importance of moral, ethical and juridical aspects of affirmative decision on euthanasia. The aim of this study was to examine attitude toward euthanasia among nurses-technicians in Croatia, as well as differences in this attitude considering some sociodemographic characteristics of nurses-technicians in this sample. The sample was consisted of 286 nurses-technicians, aged 19 to 61, employed at Zadar General Hospital and Pula General Hospital. Following instruments were applied: subscale of general attitude toward euthanasia from Chinese Expanded Euthanasia Attitude Scale and for the purposes of this study constructed Sociodemographic Dana Questionnaire. Also, several questions evaluating subjective importance of factors that could implicate in decision about performing euthanasia were used. Results show that Croatian nurses-technicians in general have neutral attitude toward euthanasia. Participants estimate patient's symptomatology and suffering as the most important factor when considering hypotetical decision on euthanasia. Nurses-technicians that work in intensive care unit and oncology show greater support for euthanasia than nurses-technicians in other hospital wards. In addition, active religious participants are less inclined to support euthanasia than non-religious participants. The results offer practical implications for the profesional behaviour of nurses-technicians, and could be particulary important for defining the quality of nurse-patient relationship.

nurses-technicians, attitude toward euthanasia, patients

nije evidentirano