Nurses' attitudes towards euthanasia in conflict with professional ethical guidelines.

BACKGROUND: Despite the significant role of nurses in end-of-life care, their attitudes towards euthanasia are under-represented both in the current literature and the controversial debate that is ongoing in several countries. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: What are the attitudes towards euthanasia among Finnish nurses? Which characteristics are associated with those attitudes? RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional web-based survey. Participants and research context: A total of 1003 nurses recruited via the members' bulletin of the Finnish Nurses Association and social media. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the Committee on Research Ethics of the university to which the authors were affiliated. FINDINGS: The majority (74.3%) of the participants would accept euthanasia as part of Finnish healthcare, and 61.8% considered that Finland would benefit from a law permitting euthanasia. Most of the nurses (89.9%) thought that a person must have the right to decide on his or her own death; 77.4% of them considered it likely that they would themselves make a request for euthanasia in certain situations. DISCUSSION: The value of self-determination and the ability to choose the moment and manner of one's death are emphasized in the nurses' attitudes towards euthanasia. CONCLUSION: A continuous dialogue about euthanasia and nurses' shared values is crucial due to the conflict between nurses' attitudes and current ethical guidelines on nursing.

The Traditional Model Does Not Explain Attitudes Toward Euthanasia: A Web-Based Survey of the General Public in Finland.

The debate about euthanasia is ongoing in several countries including Finland. However, there is a lack of information on current attitudes toward euthanasia among general Finnish public. The traditional model for predicting individuals' attitudes to euthanasia is based on their age, gender, educational level, and religiosity. However, a new evaluation of religiosity is needed due to the limited operationalization of this factor in previous studies. This study explores the connections between the factors of the traditional model and the attitudes toward euthanasia among the general public in the Finnish context. The Finnish public's attitudes toward euthanasia have become remarkably more positive over the last decade. Further research is needed on the factors that predict euthanasia attitudes. We suggest two different explanatory models for consideration: one that emphasizes the value of individual autonomy and another that approaches euthanasia from the perspective of fears of death or the process of dying.