Engaging with patients who desire death: Interpretation, presence, and constraint

Abstract

Canadian end-of-life care is changing. Given recent legislative changes concerning assisted death (euthanasia and assisted suicide), it is vital to examine the perspectives of nurses regarding their care of patients who want to die. This qualitative descriptive study reports findings from interviews with 11 oncology nurses about their experiences of engaging with patients who desire death. Findings provide important insights about how oncology nurses interpret patients' desire-for-death and enact therapeutic presence with these patients. Findings further speak to contextual forces that constrain therapeutic engagement. Interviews were conducted before laws changed in Canada, generating insights that are relevant now more than ever, as increasing numbers of patients will contemplate and receive assisted death in the new landscape of Canadian end-of-life care.