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

Brankica Juranić, Aleksandar Včev, Suzana Vuletić, Željko Rakošec, Domagoj Roguljić, Štefica Mikšić, Jelena Jakab, Jasenka Vujanić and Robert Lovrić ()
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Brankica Juranić: Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Aleksandar Včev: Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Suzana Vuletić: Catholic Faculty of Theology in Đakovo, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31400 Đakovo, Croatia
Željko Rakošec: The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Domagoj Roguljić: Department of Nursing and Palliative Medicine, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Štefica Mikšić: Department of Nursing and Palliative Medicine, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Jelena Jakab: Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Jasenka Vujanić: Department of Nursing and Palliative Medicine, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Robert Lovrić: Department of Nursing and Palliative Medicine, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-17

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.

Keywords: dysthanasia; end-of-life care; intensive care units; psychological stress; religion; spirituality; workload (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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