Investigation of Student Nurses’ Attitudes towards End-of-Life Care and Their Influencing Factors

Background: This cross-sectional investigative study aimed to determine student nurses’ attitudes towards end-of-life care. Methods: This study used a descriptive research design with stratified sampling to survey student nurses enrolled in one of four nursing colleges in China from January 2023 to December 2023. Student nurses’ general demographic and prior related information, attitudes towards death and attitudes towards end-of-life care were determined using a general information questionnaire, the Death Attitude Profile—Revised scale and the Professional End-of-Life Attitude Scale (PEAS), respectively. Results: The total PEAS score was 122.91 ± 16.123. Significant differences were noted in the attitude towards end-of-life care scores according to sources of end-of-life care knowledge (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences in student nurses’ attitudes towards end-of-life care scores were observed according to sex, religion, only-child status, place of origin, education level, student cadre status and voluntariness in selecting the nursing career (P ≥ 0.05). Conclusions: Student nurses lacked an optimistic attitude towards end-of-life care, which was influenced by differences in the sources of end-of-life care knowledge.