Perspectives in Palliative & Home Care, Year 2022 Issue 1(1)

Nursing students’ level of knowledge about palliative care and their perceptions towards good death

Hatice Karabuğa YakarSıdıka Oğuz ,Aslı Aydın ,Demet Demir — 2026-07-16

Objective: This study aimed to determine the knowledge levels of nursing students about palliative care and their perceptions of good death. Method: The research was carried out at a public university on the Anatolian side of Istanbul between February and April 2022. Its population consisted of 1,2,3 and 4th year nursing students (N=950), and the sample consisted of 346 nursing students who accepted the research, had no communication problems, had a 5% margin of error and 98% confidence interval. "Student Diagnosis Form", "Palliative Care Knowledge Test" and "Good Death Scale" were used as data collection tools. The Mann Whitney U test was used to compare two independent groups that did not show normal distribution, and the Kruskall Wallis test was used to compare more than two independent groups. Ethical approval and institutional permission were obtained in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Results: Of the nursing students participating in the study, 84.5% (n:383) were female, and 33.3% (n:151) were second-year students. 26.5% (n:120) of the students had a family history of cancer, 18.8% (n:85) cared for the dying patient, and 19.0% (n:86) witnessed the death of the patient. The students' palliative care knowledge test average score was 4.56±3.09; good death scale mean score was 55.66±8.22. The reliability coefficient was 0.75 for the palliative care knowledge test; 0.90 for good death scale. It was seen that the total score of the palliative care knowledge test and the total score of the good death scale and sub-dimension scores differed according to the descriptive characteristics of the students. (p<0.05). Conclusions and Recommendations: It was observed that the level of palliative care knowledge of nursing students was low and their perception of good death was high. It is recommended that there should be a palliative care course in the university curriculum and that clinical field applications should cover palliative care.

The relationship of spiritual level-burden of caregiving: a cross-sectional study in caregivers for palliative care patients

Rukiye Demir DikmenTülay Yıldırım Üşenmez — 2026-07-16

Background: Burden of caregiving is the distress that caregivers feel because of caregiving. It can be said that caregivers use spiritual values and spirituality to cope with the increasing burden of care. Objective: This study was conducted to determine the effect of the spirituality levels of caregivers of palliative care patients on the burden of caregiving. Material and Methods: The study was conducted with caregivers of palliative care patients hospitalized in a hospital's palliative care clinic between July and August 2022. The sample of the cross-sectional study consisted of 60 participants caring for palliative care patients. The Descriptive Characteristics Form, the Spirituality Scale, and the Caregiver Burden Scale were used to collect data. Results:It was found that the total mean score of Spirituality of the caregivers was 28.48±2.99,and the total mean score of the burden of caregiving was 52.13±14.45.It was determined that there was a weak negative correlation between the spirituality scale total score and the caregiving burden scale total score (r=-0.417, p<0.05).In addition, as a result of the regression analysis, it was determined that spirituality predicted the burden of caregiving by 17%. Conclusions: It can be said that the spirituality of the caregivers is at a high level and they have difficulties in the burden of caregiving, and that their spirituality level affects the burden of caregiving.

Evaluation of palliative care clinics according to the Quality Standards in Health 6.1: Bitlis provice

2026-07-16

Abstract Introduction and Aim: As in developed and developing countries, life expectancy has increased in our country. However, as a result of developments in the field of medicine, while acute deaths due to diseases are decreasing, the population of people with serious chronic diseases is increasing. Palliative care is an approach that aims to relieve the suffering of patients and their family members due to the disease and to improve their quality of life. Therefore, palliative care is an issue on the agenda of the whole world. In this context, this study aimed to analyze the applicability of the "Palliative Care Clinic" in the hospital set of Quality Standards in Health published by the Ministry of Health in Bitlis and the analysis of the evaluation results by the Ministry's Quality Assessors. Method: This study consists of parameters evaluated with 10 evaluation criteria by the Ministry of Health Quality Assessors of Health Facilities affiliated to Bitlis Provincial Health Directorate in 2022. 5 health facilities with palliative care clinics were evaluated and analyzed. Results: When the evaluation table of the palliative care clinics of health facilities in health quality standards was examined, it was determined that Bitlis State Hospital (SH), Ahlat DH, Tatvan SH and Güroymak SH received 100 full points, while Adilcevaz Oncology Hospital received 75 points. When the results were examined in general, it was seen that the provincial average palliative care clinic was 95 points. Conclusions and recommendations: Considering all these results together, studies should be carried out to focus on areas with low quality standards in palliative care clinic health and to keep areas with high quality levels at this level. Considering the satisfaction of the employees, quality studies should be accelerated.

The effect of religious cooperation on symptom control in palliatıve care patients: an online study

Buket DaştanNurşen Kulakaç — 2026-07-16

Introduction and Aim: This study was conducted to determine the effect of religious coping on symptom control in palliative care patients. Method: The research was designed as cross-sectional and correlational. The population of the study consisted of patients who were treated for cancer diagnosis and received palliative care in Türkiye. The study was completed with 110 patients selected by random sampling method between 1-15 September 2022. In the collection of research data the "Personal Information Form" created by the researchers was used. In addition, the “Religious Coping Scale” and the “Edmonton Symptom Determination Scale” were used. Results: The mean age of the patients participating in the study was 54.29±10.59 (min.19, max.90), 61.8% were female, 70.9% were married, 36.4% were literate, 43.6% were housewives, and 45.5% had a lower income. It was determined that it was equal to the cost of living, 41.8% lived in the city center and 41.0% was diagnosed with cancer related to the gastrointestinal system. According to the Edmonton Symptom Diagnosis Scale, the first three most severe symptoms experienced by the patients were fatigue (6.11±2.45), shortness of breath (5.76±2.05) and anxiety (5.49±2.87). The mean score of the Religious Coping Scale was found to be 29.36±6.22. In cancer patients receiving palliative care, it was found that there was a negative significant relationship between the mean scores of religious coping and the severity of the symptoms of sadness, anxiety and feeling unwell, and the severity of the symptoms they experienced decreased as the religious coping levels of the patients increased (p<0.05). Conclusions and Recommendations: In the light of the data obtained as a result of the research, it was determined that religious coping decreased the severity of the symptoms of sadness, anxiety and feeling unwell in palliative care patients.

Investigation of the attitudes of liver transplant nurses towards evidence based nursing

Runida DoğanNazlıcan Bağcı — 2026-07-16

Background/Objective: Evidence is knowledge based on scientific evaluation of practice. Evidence-based nursing practices are important in terms of various outcomes, such as improving care quality and results, standardizing care, and increasing nurse satisfaction. This study aimed was to determine the attitudes of liver transplant nurses towards evidence-based nursing. Material and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted between February and April 2021 at the liver transplant institute of a university hospital. Institutional and ethical permissions were obtained to conduct the research. The research sample consisted of 109 nurses. Personal Information Form and the Attitude Towards Evidence-Based Nursing Questionnaire (ATENQ) were used for data collection. Results: It was observed that the majority of the nurses participating in the study did not know about evidence-based nursing (56.0%) and did not follow professional publications (59.6%). The mean score of the nurses' attitude towards evidence-based nursing was found as 38.06 ± 2.99. It was found that the total attitude scores were statistically significantly higher in nurses who were aged 25 years and below, had a postgraduate education, with seniority for 19 years or more, had knowledge about evidence-based practices, attended professional meetings, and followed scientific journals (p<0.05). Conclusion: Attitudes of liver transplant nurses towards evidence-based nursing are low and their attitudes should be developed through training programs, such as in-service trainings.

Psychosocial approaches in palliative care

Arzu Yıldırım — 2026-07-16

Introduction and Aim: Although palliative care is of critical importance in both the world's aging population and cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-limiting disease states, psychosocial interventions are not adequately provided in palliative care services. Psychosocial care is defined as care that deals with the psychological and emotional well-being of the patient and their family/caregivers, including insights into and consequences for adjustment to illness, communication, social functioning, relationships, and self-esteem issues. It is a form of care that encourages patients to express their feelings about the illness while also providing ways to improve the psychological and emotional well-being of such patients and their caregivers. It supports holistic, comprehensive and patient-centered healing. Palliative care is not end-of-life care, its aim is to relieve pain at all stages of the disease. These patients not only need physical control of the disease and symptoms, but also need help to cope with the emotional, mental and social problems caused by the disease. Most of the patients are unaware of available palliative care services and do not report their problems. Since the psychosocial problems of patients who cannot share their problems are not addressed, their psychosocial needs cannot be met to a large extent. Therefore, this situation causes unnecessary pain and increase in problems. In this article, it is aimed to discuss the place and importance of psychosocial approaches in palliative care in the light of current literature. Conclusions: Good psychosocial care is essential for holistic and effective palliative care. For this reason, psychosocial needs should not be ignored in the treatment of patients with life-limiting diseases, and targets that address all dimensions should be determined.