Effects of Awareness of Good Death and End-of-Life Care Attitudes on End-of-Life Care Performance in Long-Term Care Hospital Nurses

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of awareness of good death and end-of-life care attitudes on end-of-life care performance in long-term care hospital nurses. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional study design. The participants were 147 nurses working at six long-term care hospitals with more than 200 beds in B city, South Korea. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires, and analyzed with descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple stepwise regression analysis using IBM/SPSS 26.0 for Windows. RESULTS: The participants’ awareness of good death, end-of-life care attitudes, and end-of-life care performance were positively correlated. The factors affecting end-of-life care performance were age, education level, awareness of good death, and end-of-life care attitudes; these variables explained 19.0% of end-of-life care performance. CONCLUSION: In order to improve long term care hospital nurses’ end-of-life care performance, continuing education and training should be provided regarding awareness of good death and end-of-life care attitudes.