Factors influencing attitude toward care of dying patients in first-year nursing students

To describe Swedish first-year undergraduate nursing students' attitudes toward care of dying patients. Possible influences such as age, earlier care experiences, care education, experiences of meeting dying patients and place of birth were investigated.

The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) was used in six universities. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used.

Some 371 students (67.3%) reported overall positive attitude toward caring for dying patients (total mean FATCOD 119.5, SD 10.6) early in their first semester. Older students, students with both earlier care experience and earlier education, those with experience of meeting a dying person, and students born in Sweden reported the highest scores, a more positive attitude.

Age, earlier care experience and education, experiences of meeting a dying person and place of birth seems to affect students' attitudes toward care of the dying and need to be considered among nursing educators.