Attitudes and Experiences Towards Death of Healthcare Professionals Working in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Death is an integral part of neonatal intensive care units’ (NICUs) environment and little it is known about NICU’s staff death concepts. AIM: To investigate attitudes and experiences towards death of healthcare professionals (HPs) working in NICUs. DESIGN: Totally 131 participants from six hospitals were included in the study. Research instruments were a questionnaire designed by the authors and the scale Death Attitude Profile-Revised. RESULTS: Gender, marital and educational status, frequent contact with end of life neonates and provision of neonatal end of life care during the research period correlated significantly with dimensions of DAP-R. Impact of NICU neonatal deaths on personal life correlated negatively with fear of death and positively with escape acceptance. CONCLUSION: Evaluating the interrelationships among personal characteristics, attitudes and experiences towards death among NICU HPs may increase our understanding concerning working with dying neonates and provide direction for educational intervention and continuing professional support.