Nurses′ experience and attitudes toward truthful communication with dying cancer patients about the prognosis: a qualitative study

Objective To elucidate the experience and attitude of bad news from nurses to advanced cancer patients, in order to offer better nursing care to the dying cancer patients as well as to provide evidence for end-of-life cancer care. Methods A phenomenological research method of qualitative study was employed in this study. Fifteen nurses caring for dying cancer patients were in-depth interviewed with semi-structured interview guide. Colaizzi analytical method was adopted to collect and analyze the data, which was then organized into themes and subthemes. Results Three themes wereconflict between will and behavior barriers of bad news delivery with comprehensive assessment of dying cancer patients. Conclusions Though the oncology nurses thought the dying cancer patients should be told they were dying, few nurses did that. Communication and hope maintenance related to end-of-life cancer care training should be offered to oncology nurses, as well bad news to ensure cancer patients′ safety. Key words: Nurses; Neoplasms; Terminally ill; Hospice care; Bad news