Impact of palliative care education on nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward care of cancer patients
Naema Said Mohammed, Yosria El- Sayed Hussein, Yasser Mohammed Abd ElGawad, Naglaa Mohammed Amin
Background: Palliative care is a crucial component of comprehensive cancer care, focusing on improving patients' quality of life (QoL) by taking care of their emotional, physical, as well as psychosocial needs. Nurses, as primary caregivers, play a central role in delivering this care, especially for patients facing advanced stages of the disease. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the impact of a palliative care education on nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward the care of cancer patients.
Research design: Quasi-experimental research design.
Sample: The study's intervention and control groups were created from a convenience sample of 150 nurses who worked at Minia Oncology Center. Tool (I): A structured interview questionnaire, including Part one: demographic characteristics of the nurses and Part two: assessment of nurses' palliative care knowledge utilized 20-item Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN). Tool (II): Nurses' attitudes toward palliative care were assessed utilized 11-item tool, with 6 positive and 5 negative items.
Findings: There was a significant raising in nurses' knowledge, a positive shift in their attitudes toward end-of-life care. Additionally, significant positive correlations were found between nurses' knowledge as well as attitudes tword palliative care in the study group after the educational program.
Conclusion: The study concluded that the palliative care program positively impacted nurses' knowledge as well as attitudes toward palliative care.
Recommendations: The study recommends ongoing palliative care education for nurses, the inclusion of palliative care in nursing curricula, and providing accessible Arabic booklets in oncology centers it calls for expanding palliative care and studying its impact on nurses and patient outcomes.
Naema Said Mohammed, Yosria El- Sayed Hussein, Yasser Mohammed Abd ElGawad, Naglaa Mohammed Amin. Impact of palliative care education on nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward care of cancer patients. Int J Adv Res Nurs 2025;8(1):37-44. DOI: 10.33545/nursing.2025.v8.i1.A.444