How Views on Death and Time Perspectives Relate to Palliative Care Nurses’ Attitudes Toward Terminal Care?

Abstract

This study’s purpose was to explore how palliative care nurses’ views on death and time perspectives are related to their terminal care attitudes. A questionnaire survey—consisting of the Death Attitude Inventory, Experiential Time Perspective Scale, and the Japanese version of the Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying Scale—was administered to 300 individuals. Cluster analysis was conducted to categorize the way nurses perceive death, which revealed four types: Avoidant, middle, accepting, and indifferent. As a result of the analysis of variance on the terminal care attitudes, based on the types of views on death and time attitudes, it was found that the middle and accepting types, as well as the adaptive formation of time attitudes, were related to positive terminal care attitudes. In conclusion, more effective improvements in attitudes toward terminal care can be expected by incorporating time perspective, in addition to the conventional approaches focusing on death.