Implications for practice and research

• Nurses can use the explanatory model to help them understand their emotions and the importance of self-care when providing end of life care (EoLC) to patients, and families.

• Future research should focus on qualitative methods, allowing for better understanding of the relationship between nurses’ attitudes and their EoLC.

Context

Nurses have a pivotal role in providing EoLC to patients and their families. The care individual nurses provide can be influenced by their own attitudes to death and dying, and their perceptions of the quality of care provided at end of life. A review1 concluded that nurses use intrinsic and extrinsic resources to help them cope with the death of …