Attitudes Study of Students and Staff of Nursing about Euthanasia in Behbahan City, 2018

Background and Objective: Nursing students are part of a clinical teaching team in the course of education. And it is important to examine their attitude toward euthanasia. Investigating the attitude of nursing students towards euthanasia has always been welcomed by researchers. These studies often indicate a lack of acceptance of euthanasia among nurses, but different percentages of opposition to euthanasia have been reported. This study aimed to determine the attitudes study of students and staff of nursing about euthanasia in Behbahan city in 2018. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted to investigate the euthanasia attitude among nursing staff and students in 2018. The study population is nurses and nursing students of Behbahan city. Population volume was 187 in Behbahan hospital staff and 117 students respectively, that with Cochran's formula with 95% confidence interval was 126 and 83 respectively (z: equal 1.96 p=q=0.5 d=0.5). Students were selected from semesters 4 to 8 in order to understand students correctly. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22 and statistical methods including: mean, frequency, T-test, Chi-Square, multiple regression test and significance level p <0.05 was used. Finding: 107 nurses and 83 nursing students participated in this study. The mean age of participants was 27 years. Multiple regression was used to examine the relationship between the dimensions of euthanasia and demographic variables. Multiple regression results showed that naturalistic beliefs were significantly different between the two groups of nurses and students (p=0.021). There was no significant difference between other aspects of euthanasia attitude in nurses and students. There were also significant differences between the two groups of men in terms of practical considerations (p=0.048). Conclusion: Knowing the attitudes of nurses in a community towards the issue of euthanasia can be an effective step towards a better plan for improving the care of patients with euthanasia. The results of this study showed that naturalistic beliefs were significantly different between the two groups of nurses and students. But there was no significant difference between other aspects of euthanasia attitude and nurses and students; there were also significant differences in the practical considerations between the two groups of men. It is necessary to improve the knowledge of nurses in this field.

Euthanasia, students' attitude, nursing, nursing students.