Student nurses' knowledge of and attitudes toward palliative care in the Middle East: an integrative review

Abstract

Background: Palliative care is one of the most important areas of practice because it includes caring for vulnerable people who are mostly in their last stage of life. Palliative care is a relatively new specialty in the Middle East and little is known about student nurses' knowledge of and attitudes towards it. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore students' knowledge of and attitudes towards palliative care in the Middle East, and to use the findings to make recommendations to higher education institutions about its importance. Design: An integrative review following an established framework was used. Hawker's Assessment Tool was employed to evaluate the quality of the research articles. Results: The search found seven quantitative studies from four countries in the Middle East. Their focus was on students' knowledge (n=5) and attitudes (n=2). The number of participants ranged from 110 to 452, with knowledge scores ranging from 5.23 to 8.0 out of 20 on all or part of the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing. Students' attitudes were marginally positive toward palliative care and dying patients. Conclusion: There are few studies in the Middle East investigating student nurses' knowledge of and attitude toward palliative care; consequently, more attention needs to be given to this area of practice.