Open Collections

Schroeder , Jocelyn

University of British Columbia

Background: In 2016 Canada passed legislation which legalised Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD), allowing eligible Canadians the ability to receive a lethal substance to end their life under certain circumstances. Nurses in Canada have a significant role in providing care to clients before, during, and after a MAiD death. Nurses’ and nursing students’ experiences with MAiD thus far have been complex. The purpose of this study was to develop a survey to assess nursing students’ attitudes toward and willingness to participate in MAiD in the unique Canadian context. Methods: This study created and initially validated a survey that can be used at a future date to assess nursing students’ and their attitudes toward, and willingness to participate in, MAiD. This study utilized item generation techniques, a Delphi method with panel of expert nursing faculty, and a cognitive interview focus group with nursing students to prioritize, refine, and validate the survey questions. Results: The final survey consisted of 45 questions including four case studies. Categories of the survey included questions relating to: participant demographics, experiences with end-of-life and MAiD, knowledge of MAiD, agreement/disagreement with MAiD, influences of beliefs about MAiD, willingness to participate in roles related to MAiD, and clinical case scenarios. Discussion: This study provided a significant step in being able to assess nursing students’ attitudes toward MAiD in Canada, and the results aligned with existing literature. Each category of the survey proved to be an important area of future study, with several controversies providing a focus for future research.

Text

2022-12-01

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/83336

Nursing

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/