title: Nurses' advocacy behaviors in end-of-life nursing care.
abstract: Nursing professionals are in key positions to support end-of-life decisions and to advocate for patients and families across all health care settings. Advocacy has been identified as the common thread of quality end-of-life nursing care. The purpose of this comparative descriptive study was to reveal acute care nurses' perceptions of advocacy behaviors in end-of-life nursing practice. The 317 participating nurses reported frequent contact with dying patients despite modest exposure to end-of-life education. This study did not confirm an overall difference in advocacy behaviors among novice, experienced and expert nurses; however, it offered insight into the supports and barriers nurses at different skill levels experienced in their practice of advocacy.
authors.affiliation: Alvernia College, 400 St Bernardine Street, Reading, PA 19607, USA. karen.thacker@alvernia.edu
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Thacker
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000451:nursing; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008873:Mid-Atlantic Region; D008875:Middle Aged; D016294:Models, Nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*