BMC Nurs. 2026 May 23. doi: 10.1186/s12912-026-04634-8. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally. Against the backdrop of inadequate life education and a deep-rooted death-avoidant culture in China, oncology nurses faced with multiple challenges in hospice care. The attitude of oncology nurses towards care of the dying is a crucial factor in improving the quality of palliative care. However, few studies have explored the attitude toward care of the dying of oncology nurses and their influencing mechanisms. This study aimed to explore the mediating effect of meaning in life on the fear of death and attitude toward care of the dying among oncology nurses in China.
METHODS: Data were collected from July to August 2024 using Chinese versions of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale, Form B (FATCOD-B-C), the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale (CLS), and Purpose in Life Test (CPLT-C). SPSS version 26.0 and AMOS version 24.0 were used for statistical analysis.
FINDINGS: The mean total attitude score towards care of the dying was 95.52 ± 18.18. The fear of death was positively correlated with the meaning in life (r = 0.442, P < 0.01), and positively correlated with the attitude toward care of the dying (r = 0.340, P < 0.01). Meaning in life was positively correlated with attitude towards care of the dying (r = 0.474, P < 0.01). Meaning in life partially mediated the relationship between fear of death and attitudes toward care of the dying. The mediating effect (0.297) accounted for 63.19% of the total impact (0.479).
CONCLUSION: Nurses’ fear of death is positively correlated with their attitude towards care of dying, and the meaning of life plays a partial mediating role in it. This discovery challenges the common view that “fear of death is necessarily detrimental to humanistic care”, highlighting the significant role of existentialist resources in shaping nurses’ professional attitudes. Based on this, intervention measures should focus on strengthening the intermediary resource of life meaning. Medical administrators, educators and policymakers can combine traditional training methods with emerging technologies to help nurses master palliative care knowledge and skills while cultivating and consolidating a sense of life meaning.
PMID:42177484 | DOI:10.1186/s12912-026-04634-8
