title: Attitudes and Knowledge of Iranian Nurses about Hospice Care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Due to expansion of chronic diseases and increase of health care costs, there is a need for planning and delivering hospice care for patients in their final stages of life in Iran. The aim of the present study is to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of nurses about delivering hospice care for End of Life (EOL) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012 with a sample size of 200 nurses that were selected by convenient (available) sampling. The data collection instrument was a self-administered questionnaire whose validity was approved by experts' opinions and its reliability was approved by test-retest method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among all participants of this study, 87% were female. The mean age of nurses was 32.00 ± 6.72. From all respondents 62% stated that they have no knowledge about hospice care and 80% declared that need for hospice care is increasing. Most of the participants felt that, appropriate services are not presented to patients in the final stages of their lives. About 80% believed that hospice care leads to reduction of health care costs, improvement of physical, mental and social health of patients and finally improvement of the quality of health care services. There was a significant relationship between age, employment history and level of education of nurses and their attitude and knowledge about how this service is provided.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In view of the increase in chronic illnesses and the costs of caring, the need for provision of hospice care is felt more and more every day. However the awareness level of nurses about these services is low. Therefore the need for including these issues in nursing curriculum and holding scientific courses and seminars in this field is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, Iranian Center of Excellence in Health Management, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Saber
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azami-Aghdash
authors.affiliation: National Public Health Management Center, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jabbari
authors.affiliation: National Public Health Management Center, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bakhshian
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, Tabriz Health Services Management Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shafaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Student Research Commute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Soheyla
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shafaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Student Research Commute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Kasra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kolahdouzan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, Research Center for Health Services Management, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohseni
keywords: Attitude; End of life; Hospice; Knowledge