Pielęgniarki w Polsce wobec eutanazji

Abstract

The problem of the euthanasia is one of the most important topic of social debate. This is not only a moral problem, but also a medical, legal and social issue. Opinion of the medical community (including nurses) in the topic of euthanasia is a point of reference for social discourse. The aim of the research was to analyze the opinions of the nursing staff on euthanasia and to examine the relationship between supporting the euthanasia and selected sociodemo-graphic variables. The study involved 146 nurses. The research was carried out using the diagnostic survey method, non-probability sampling. The survey was anonymous and voluntary. An original questionnaire was used. Statistical ana-lysis was performed in the 4.1.3. R Core Team program, using Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis tests, post-hoc analyzes with the Dunn test. The threshold of α = 0.05 was considered as the significance level. Most of the surveyed nurses support the legalization of the euthanasia (46.58%) and a significant part of them would agree to their own euthanasia (38.35%), to the euthanasia of an adult family member (34.24%) or a child from the family (24.66%). The attitude towards the euthanasia depends on demographic variables such as an age, a marital status, a religion and a work experience in the nursing profession. An opposition to euthanasia in Poland among nursing staff is decreasing, a support for the legalization of the euthanasia, and a declarations of consent to practice the euthanasia are becoming more frequent, especially among younger nurses.

Keywords

• euthanasia
• nurse
• legalization of euthanasia
• professional ethics