PERCEPTION OF CARE BEHAVIORS BY NURSES AND ELDERLY PATIENTS RECEIVING PALLIATIVE CARE: A MULTICENTER STUDY

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare the perception of the elderly patient receiving palliative care and of the nurses related to their care behaviors. Descriptive and cross-sectional type of research was carried out between October 2018 and July 2019 in the palliative care clinics of 4 different hospitals located in 3 different provinces in the southeastern region of Turkey. Total 29 nurses and 653 patients participated in the study. The data were collected through “Nurse and Patient Introduction Form”, “Caring Behavior Inventory-24” and “Palliative Performance Scale”. For the analysis of the data, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis test and Spearman correlation coefficients were used. The average palliative performance scale of the patients was 52.77±13.10, and the average age of them was 68.77±12.69. The total point averages in the nurses’ and patients’ Caring Behavior Inventory-24 were determined as 5.34±0.65 and 4.88±0.70 respectively. The subscale with the highest point average for both patients and nurses was ‘being respectful’. The average of nurses was significantly higher than the average of patients in total Caring Behavior Inventory-24 and all subscales (p<0.005). The results show significant differences between perception of the elderly receiving palliative care and of the nurses related to their care behaviors. Therefore, the needs and expectations of the elderly regarding palliative care should be met effectively, the quality of nursing care should be increased and its effectiveness should be evaluated.