title: Nursing students' approaches toward euthanasia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Turkey, which is a secular, democratic nation with a majority Muslim population, euthanasia is illegal and regarded as murder. Nurses and students can be faced with ethical dilemmas and a lack of a legal basis, with a conflict of religious beliefs and social and cultural values concerning euthanasia. The aim of this study was to investigate undergraduate nursing students' attitudes towards euthanasia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study, which had a descriptive design, was conducted with 600 students. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year nursing students at a school of nursing were contacted in May 2009, and 383 students (63.8% of the study population of a total of 600 students) gave informed consent. Two tools were used in accordance with questionnaire preparation rules.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of students were female and single (96.9%), and their mean age was 21.3 ± 1.5 years. A majority (78.9%) stated they had received no training course/education on the concept of euthanasia. Nearly one-third (32.4%) of the students were against euthanasia; 14.3% of the students in the study agreed that if their relatives had an irreversible, lethal condition, passive euthanasia could be performed. In addition, 24.8% of the students agreed that if they themselves had an irreversible, lethal condition, passive euthanasia could be performed. Less than half (42.5%) of the students thought that discussions about euthanasia could be useful. There was a significant relation between the study year and being against euthanasia (p < 0.05), the idea that euthanasia could be abused (p < 0.05), and the idea that euthanasia was unethical (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was concluded that the lack of legal regulations, ethical considerations, religious beliefs, and work experience with dying patients affect nursing students' attitudes towards euthanasia.
authors.affiliation: Nigde University.
authors.forename: Hanife
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ozcelik
authors.affiliation: Balikesir University.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tekir
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University.
authors.forename: Sevgin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samancioglu
authors.affiliation: Ege University.
authors.forename: Cicek
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fadiloglu
authors.affiliation: Dokuz Eylul University.
authors.forename: Erdem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ozkara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003479:Curriculum; D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D005065:Euthanasia / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012945:Social Values; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D014421:Turkey; D055815:Young Adult