Peer-reviewed article
Dying child and nurses’ mourning
Zartaloudi A, Lekas C, Koutelekos I, Evangelou E, Kyritsi E ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed study examines pediatric nurses' attitudes towards death and their emotional responses when caring for dying children. The research surveyed 170 nurses working in pediatric hospital departments about their training, clinical experience, and feelings regarding child death. The study finds that most nurses are deeply affected by children's deaths but feel inadequately prepared to manage end-of-life care, despite many having received some formal training.
Key points
- 68.6% of pediatric nurses report that a child's death affects them very much
- 44.7% felt unprepared to manage death-related issues
- Nurses expressed sadness (44%), compassion (22%), guilt (22%) and anger (22%) as primary emotions
- 73% wished dying children were not present when death occurred
- Only 53.5% had received curriculum training on end-of-life care and 21.2% had attended related seminars
Limitations
This study documents nurses' perceptions and emotional states but does not evaluate whether any intervention improves child well-being, quality of end-of-life care, or patient outcomes. It is primarily a descriptive survey of healthcare worker attitudes rather than an assessment of child-focused outcomes.
Abstract
Introduction One of the most complex and emotional aspects of nursing is the interaction between the nurse and the dying child. The attitudes of nurses towards death, affect the quality of care. Objectives To investigate pediatric nurses’ attitudes towards death. Methods Methodology: 170 nurses, working in pediatric hospital departments completed a questionnaire which included sociodemographic characteristics and information related to their previous training and clinical experience regarding death issues in general and dying children’s care in particular. Results 68.6% reported that the death of a child affects them very much, while 44.7% of the participants didn’t feel well prepared to manage death issues. Pediatric nurses were greatly affected by children’s death, expressing mainly feelings of sadness (44%), compassion (22%), guilt (22%) and anger (22%). 73% of the sample wished the hospitalized child, died when they were not present. 53.5% had been trained regarding the care of dying patients and the management of death and mourning as part of their curriculum and 21.2% had attended a relative seminar / lecture. The importance of proper and adequate education becomes particularly apparent considering that the majority of our sample either did not feel sufficiently prepared in order to deal with death and mourning, even though more than 70% of our participants had been relatively educated. Conclusions The incorporation of the notions of death and care at end of life in the theoretical and practical fields of nursing will improve the quality of services offered at the end of life for patients and their families.