Italian Nurses' Attitudes Towards Neonatal Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Survey
File version
Author(s)
Tomietto, Marco
Della Pelle, Carlo
Kain, Victoria
Di Giovanni, Pamela
Rasero, Laura
Cicolini, Giancarlo
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
License
Abstract
PURPOSE: Neonatal palliative care becomes an option for critically ill neonates when death is inevitable. Assessing nurses' attitudes towards, barriers to, and facilitators of neonatal palliative care is essential to delivering effective nursing care. METHODS: This study was conducted from January to September 2015 and involved Italian nurses employed in Level III neonatal intensive care units in 14 hospitals in northern, central, and southern Italy. A modified version of the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitudes Scale (NiPCAS) was adopted to assess nurses' attitudes. FINDINGS: A total of 347 neonatal nurses filled out the questionnaire. The majority were female (87.6%), with a mean age of 40.38 (±8.3) years. The mean score in the "organization" factor was 2.71 (±0.96). The "resources" factor had a mean score of 2.44 (±1.00), while the "clinician" factor had a mean score of 3.36 (±0.90), indicating the main barriers to and facilitators of implementing palliative nursing care. CONCLUSIONS: Italian neonatal nurses may face different obstacles to delivering neonatal palliative care and to improve their attitudes in this field. In the Italian context, no facilitators of, only barriers to, palliative care delivery were identified. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Nurses' attitudes towards neonatal palliative care are essential to supporting nurses, who are constantly exposed to the emotional and moral distress connected with this field of end-of-life nursing care.
Journal Title
Journal of Nursing Scholarship
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
Item Access Status
Note
This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Nursing
Attitude
infant
neonatal nursing
newborn
nurses
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Cerratti, F; Tomietto, M; Della Pelle, C; Kain, V; Di Giovanni, P; Rasero, L; Cicolini, G, Italian Nurses' Attitudes Towards Neonatal Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Survey, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 2020