Impact of an educational program on oncology nurses' attitudes and behaviors toward care of the dying

Objectives. Care of the dying is an essential part of holistic cancer nursing. Improving nurses' attitudes and behaviors regarding care of the dying is one of the critical factors in increasing the quality of nursing service. This study aims to examine the impact of an educational program based on the CARES tool on nurses' attitudes and behaviors toward care of the dying. Methods. A quasi-experimental study with pre- and post-intervention measures was conducted. A total of 222 oncology nurses from 14 hospitals in Beijing, China, were enrolled using a convenient sampling method. This online educational course developed based on the CARES framework comprised 7 modules and 10 sessions. Each session was carried out twice a week over 30-60 min. Data were collected using a sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire, the Frommelt Attitude Towards Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) and the Nurses' Practice Behavior Toward Care of the Dying Questionnaire (NPBTCOD). Reassessment of attitudes and behaviors was conducted when completed the learning and 6 months after the learning, respectively. The sociodemographic characteristics of the nurses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and differences in attitudes and behaviors were reported and compared by the paired t-test. Results. All the 222 oncology nurses completed educational courses, and 218 nurses (98.20%) completed the pre- and post-attitudes evaluation and 213 (95.9%) nurses completed the pre-and post-behaviors evaluation. The mean (SD) FATCOD score before and after the educational program was 108.83 (12.07) versus 115.09 (14.91), respectively (t = -8.546, p >= 0.001). The mean (SD) NPBTCOD score before and after the educational program was 69.14 (17.56) versus 73.40 (18.96), respectively (t = -3.231, p = 0.001). Significance of results. This educational intervention was found to be an effective method for improving oncology nurses' attitudes and behaviors toward caring for dying patients.