Dying to care: A constructivist grounded theory study to explore the factors that influence student nurse preparedness to care for dying patients

Abstract

Background: The term “prepared” appears in the end-of-life and palliative care guidelines, however, there are no definitions or explicit guidelines about what being prepared to care for dying patients entails. Whilst education and experience have been identified as important factors in changing attitudes towards dying, there is a paucity of literature on how this is achieved. Additionally, student nurses still report a lack of confidence and increased death anxiety towards caring for dying patients.

Aim: This study aims to explore how undergraduate student nurses perceive their preparedness to care for dying patients.

Methodology and Methods: A constructivist grounded theory approach has been adopted, influenced by the theoretical perspectives of symbolic interactionism and social constructionism. Adopting a purposive sampling approach, followed by theoretical sampling, nineteen student nurses from across all three years of the undergraduate adult nursing science degree programme took part in semi structured interviews. Analysis of the data was completed using the process of constant comparison analysis until theoretical sensitivity had been achieved.

Findings: Three categories were constructed from the data; Having a Sense of
Familiarity, Motivation to Care and Encultured Behaviours. The grounded theory
model of Nurturing Nursing Students Self-Efficacy to Care for Dying Patients was
constructed, which explains the intrinsic and extrinsic factors and social processes
involved in preparing the student nurses to care for dying patients. The original model presented provides a new insight into how student nurses perceive their preparedness to care for dying patients, with the potential to influence education, practice, and opportunities for future research.

Date of Award	22 May 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Collette Straughair (Supervisor) & Amanda Clarke (Supervisor)