Nursing Students' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Palliative Care: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study

Given the growing need for palliative care, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses, it is essential for nursing students, as future providers of palliative care, to acquire adequate knowledge and develop positive attitudes in this field. This study aimed to evaluate nursing students' knowledge and attitudes toward palliative care.

This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted from September to December 2021 at Alborz University of Medical Sciences in Iran. The study population consisted of all undergraduate nursing students in the second to eighth semesters enrolled in the 4-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, who were included in the study using a census method. Data collection instruments included two questionnaires (Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing and Attitudes toward Palliative Care), and a socio-demographic characteristics form.

Out of the 220 eligible undergraduate nursing students, 206 (114 female and 92 male) completed the questionnaires (response rate: 93.63%). The mean total knowledge score of the participating students regarding palliative care was 10.70 ± 2.45 (range: 0-20). Only 1% of the students scored 5 or below, whereas 4.4% scored above 15. Additionally, 54.4% of the students obtained a knowledge score above 10. The majority of students (94.6%) fell within the score range of 6-15. All participating students demonstrated a positive attitude toward palliative care. There was no significant correlation between nursing students' knowledge and their attitudes toward palliative care (r = 0.078, p = 0.262). Scores of knowledge and attitudes toward palliative care were not significantly associated with most demographic variables.

Although all participating students demonstrated a positive attitude toward palliative care, only a small proportion of nursing students obtained high knowledge scores regarding palliative care, and most participants were clustered around the middle of the scale. These findings, supported by international evidence, underscore the growing need to integrate both formal and clinical palliative care education into undergraduate nursing curricula.