Stergiannis Pantelis, Fanouraki-Stavrakaki Effrosyni, Manthou Panagiota, Intas George
Faculty of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GRC.
Surgical-Orthopedic Clinic, General Hospital Health Center of Sitia, Sitia, GRC.
Cureus. 2024 Feb 10;16(2):e53990. doi: 10.7759/cureus.53990. eCollection 2024 Feb.
The good and benefit of the patient are the main drivers of the decisions that health professionals are asked to make. However, the definition of the good and the actions required for benefit are not always simple and self-evident. The intractable ethical dilemma of euthanasia has been the subject of extensive debates over the years, and numerous studies have been carried out in an attempt to record the attitudes and opinions of both health professionals and the general population.
This research aims to investigate the opinions and perspectives of the medical and nursing staff of the four regional hospitals regarding euthanasia and to detect the factors that advocate for and against it. Two hundred and eighteen medical and nursing staff members from four regional hospitals in Lasithi participated in the research, whose opinions and influencing factors were investigated using a questionnaire consisting of four sections. The first included demographic and general characteristics questions; the second was the Euthanasia Attitude Scale (EAS); the third was the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R); and the last was the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES). The SPSS software version 25.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) was used to analyse the data.
Of the total, 78.0% of the participants were women, with an average sample age of 44.5 years. 65.1% were married, 23.4% were physicians, while 76.6% were nurses. The mean Euthanasia Attitude score (70.89) is moderate, ranging from 30 to 120, with higher scores suggesting more favourable sentiments. Euthanasia was viewed positively by 24.3% of respondents. There was no significant difference in positive attitudes between medical and nursing staff. However, the nursing staff had significantly lower average levels of General Orientation for Euthanasia, for the Role of Healthcare Professionals in Euthanasia, Values & Ethics, or Daily Spiritual Experience, and conversely higher levels of scores on Patients' Rights Issues for Euthanasia or Death Acceptance.
Health professionals were found to have moderate attitudes about euthanasia, with no significant difference between them, as well as moderate degrees of death and everyday spiritual experience. Overall, a more favourable euthanasia attitude was shown to be strongly associated with individuals who were single, divorced, or widowed, with less death acceptance or more neutral acceptance, but not with daily spiritual experience.
患者的利益是要求医疗专业人员做出决策的主要驱动力。然而，利益的定义以及实现利益所需的行动并不总是简单明了的。多年来，安乐死这一棘手的伦理困境一直是广泛辩论的主题，并且已经开展了大量研究，试图记录医疗专业人员和普通民众的态度与观点。
本研究旨在调查四家地区医院的医护人员对安乐死的看法和观点，并找出支持和反对安乐死的因素。来自拉西锡州四家地区医院的218名医护人员参与了该研究，通过一份由四个部分组成的问卷对他们的意见和影响因素进行了调查。第一部分包括人口统计学和一般特征问题；第二部分是安乐死态度量表（EAS）；第三部分是修订后的死亡态度量表（DAP-R）；最后一部分是日常精神体验量表（DSES）。使用SPSS 25.0软件版本（IBM公司，纽约州阿蒙克）对数据进行分析。
在所有参与者中，78.0%为女性，样本平均年龄为44.5岁。65.1%已婚，23.4%为医生，76.6%为护士。安乐死态度平均得分（70.89）适中，范围为30至120分，得分越高表明态度越积极。24.3%的受访者对安乐死持积极看法。医护人员在积极态度方面没有显著差异。然而，护士在安乐死的总体倾向、医护人员在安乐死中的角色、价值观与伦理或日常精神体验方面的平均水平显著较低，相反，在安乐死的患者权利问题或对死亡的接受程度方面得分较高。
研究发现，医疗专业人员对安乐死持中等态度，他们之间没有显著差异，对死亡和日常精神体验的程度也适中。总体而言，更积极的安乐死态度与单身、离异或丧偶的人密切相关，他们对死亡的接受程度较低或较为中立，但与日常精神体验无关。
