Abstract

Background: End-of -Life care is part of palliative care which involves the care of individuals and their families in their final phases of life. Understanding nursing students’ attitudes toward End-of -Life care is crucial to enable teachers to provide support and help. This study assesses undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes toward end-of-life care at the biggest two governmental universities in Jordan.

Methods: A sample of 400 nursing students from second, third and fourth academic years were randomly selected using a multistage random sampling method from the selected universities. For the purpose of data collections two questionnaires were used in this study; the demographic data questionnaire and Frommelt’s Attitude toward Care of Dying scale.

Results: The results showed that the majority of the Jordanian nursing students had negative and fair attitudes toward end-of-life care. Also, there was a significant relationship between the nursing student's age and their negative attitude scores (F=2.5, P=0.006). no significant differences between students who had past experience in dealing with dying patients and those who don’t in term of attitude toward end-of-life care except patient's age at death time.

Conclusion: Educational programs about end-of-life care are needed to be included in the baccalaureate degree curriculum to improve students’ attitudes toward end-of-life care. The educational programs for should take into consideration students’ personal attitudes toward death as well as their religious and cultural backgrounds.