Attitudes of Nurses Toward Euthanasia in the Hospitals of Zahedan, Iran, 2014

Backgrounds Since nurses play important role in taking care of end-stage patients, it is important to consider their attitudes toward euthanasia. The current study aimed at examining the attitudes of nurses working in Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran, toward euthanasia.
Methods & Materials The current cross sectional study enrolled 157 nurses working in the teaching hospitals affiliated to Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in 2014.
Data were gathered using the euthanasia attitude scale (EAS) and a demographic data short-form. The data were analyzed using the statistical tests by SPSS version 17.
Results Results of the current study showed that 34% and 66% of the nurses had negative and positive attitudes toward euthanasia, respectively.
Conclusion The results of the study showed that most of the nurses had negative viewpoint on euthanasia. Thereby, no significant relationship was observed between the results of EAS and demographic variables ; further studies should be conducted focusing other variable such as knowledge, function, and role of the nurses.