International Journal of Nursing Studies
Volume 42, Issue 2 , Pages 125-133 , February 2005

Everyday death: how do nurses cope with caring for dying people in hospital?

  • Jane B. Hopkinson

      Affiliations

    • Macmillan Research Unit, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, UK
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author
  • ,
  • Christine E. Hallett

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  • ,
  • Karen A. Luker

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

Received 26 March 2004 ,Accepted 1 June 2004.

References 

  1. Alexander DA. Research (Section. 3.4). In:  Doyle D,  Hanks GWC,  MacDonald N editor. Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine. Oxford: Medical Publications; 1993;
  2. Borrill, C.S., Wall, T.D., West, M.A., Hardy, G.E., Shapiro, D.A., Hayes, C.E., Stride, C.B., Woods, D., Carter, A.J., 1998. Stress Among Staff in NHS Trusts: Final Report. Unpublished. Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield and Psychological Therapies Research Center, University of Leeds, UK.
  3. Boyle A, Grap M, Younger J, Thornby D. Personality hardiness, ways of coping, social support and burnout in critical care nurses. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1991;16:850–857
  4. Buswell C. Less Haste. Nursing Standard. 1998;12(42):20
  5. Cohen MZ. The meaning of cancer and oncology nursing (Link to effective care). Seminars in Oncology Nursing. 1995;11(1):59–67
  6. Cooper CL, Cartwright S. Mental Health and Stress in the Workplace. London: HMSO; 1996;
  7. Copp G. Facing Impending Death (Experiences of Patients and Their Nurses). London: Nursing Times Books; 1999;
  8. Cox, T., 1993. Stress Research and Stress Management: Putting Theory to Work. HSE Contract Research Report no. 61/1993 Centre for Organisational Health and Development, Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham.
  9. Cox T, Leiter M. The Health of Health Care Organisations. Work and Stress. 1992;6(3):219–227
  10. Demmer, 1999. Coping of Staff in AIDS Nursing Facilities. AIDS PATIENT CARE and STDs 13(10), 609–614.
  11. Department of Health (DH), 1999. Working Together—securing a quality workforce for the NHS. HMSO, London.
  12. Department of Health (DH), 2000. The NHS Plan. HMSO, London.
  13. Department of Health (DH), 2004. NICE: Guidelines for supportive palliative care. HMSO, London.
  14. Dewe PJ. Identifying strategies nurses use to cope with work stress. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1987;12:489–497
  15. Dewe PJ, Cox T, Ferguson E. Chapter 9: Stress management (research, issues and methodology). In:  Palmer S,  Dryden W editor. Stress, Management and Counseling: Theory, Practice, Research and Methodology. London: Cassell; 1996;
  16. Ehrenfeld M, Cheifetz FR. Cardiac nurses coping with stress. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1990;15:1002–1008
  17. Farrington A. Strategies for reducing stress and burnout in nursing. British Journal of Nursing. 1997;6(1):44–50
  18. Field D, Copp G. Communication and awareness about dying in the 1990s. Palliative Medicine. 1999;13:459–468
  19. Folkman S. Personal control and stress and coping processes (a theoretical analysis). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1984;46(4):839–852
  20. Hammersley, M., 1995. What's Wrong With Ethnography? Routledge, England.
  21. Hart G, Yates P, Clinton M, Windsor C. Mediating conflict and control (practice challenges for nurses working in palliative care). International Journal of Nursing Studies. 1998;35:252–258
  22. Henkelman, W.J., Dallinis, P.M., 1998a. A protocol for palliative care measures. Nursing Management 29(2), 36C, 36F–36G.
  23. Henkelman, W.J.,Dallinis, P.M., 1998b. A protocol for palliative care measures. Nursing Management 29(1), 40,42,45–46.
  24. Landeweerd JA, Boumans NPG. The effect of work dimensions and need for autonomy on nurses’ work satisfaction and health. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology. 1994;67:207–217
  25. Lazarus RS. Psychological Stress and the Coping Process. New York, USA: McGraw-Hill Book Company; 1966;
  26. Lazarus RS. Emotion and Adaptation. New York, USA: Oxford University Press; 1991;
  27. Lindop E, Beach R, Read S. A composite model of palliative care for the UK. International Journal of Palliative Nursing. 1997;3(5):287–292
  28. Luker KA, Austin L, Caress A, Hallett CE. The importance of ‘knowing the patient’ (community nurses’ constructions of quality in providing palliative care). Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2000;31(4):775–782
  29. McNamara B, Waddell C, Colvin M. Threats to the good death (the cultural context of stress and coping among hospice nurses). Sociology of Health and Illness. 1995;17(2):222–244
  30. McWhan K. Caring for dying patients in acute hospital wards (a review). Nursing Practice. 1991;5(1):25–28
  31. Marino PA. The effects of cumulative grief in the nurse. Journal of Intravenous Nursing. 1998;21(2):101–104
  32. May C. Affective neutrality and involvement in nurse-patient relationships (perceptions of appropriate behaviour among nurses in acute medical and surgical wards). Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1991;16:552–558
  33. May C. Patients enquiries about cancer nurses’ coping strategies. Journal of Cancer Care. 1995;4:101–104
  34. Macmillan Cancer Relief, 2003. The gold standards framework: A programme for community palliative care. London, UK.
  35. Motowidlo SJ, Manning MR, Packard JS. Occupational stress (its causes and consequences for job performance). Journal of Applied Psychology. 1986;71(4):618–629
  36. O’Driscoll A, Cooper A. Chapter 10: Coping with work related stress (A critique of existing measures and a proposal for an alternative methodology). In:  Palmer S,  Dryden W editor. Stress Management and Counseling Theory, Practice, Research and Methodology. London: Cassell; 1996;
  37. O’hara MA, Harper DW, Chartland LD, Johnston SF. Patient death in a long-term care hospital (A study of the effect on nursing staff). Journal of Gerontological Nursing. 1996;22(8):27–35
  38. Russell P, Sander R. Palliative care (promoting the concept of a healthy death). British Journal of Nursing. 1998;7(5):256–261
  39. Smith P. The Emotional Labour of Nursing. Great Britain: The Macmillan Press Limited; 1992;
  40. Spiegelberg H. The Phenomenological Movement (A Historical Introduction). Second Edition. The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Nijoff; 1971;
  41. Stoter D. Staff Support in Health Care. London: Blackwell Science Ltd; 1997;
  42. The Marie Curie Centre Liverpool and the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, 2002. The Liverpool Care Pathway For The Dying Patient Project: Beacon Resource Pack. NHS Beacon Services, UK.
  43. Tyler PA, Ellison RN. Sources of stress and psychological well-being in high dependency nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1994;19:469–476
  44. Vachon MLS. Caring for the caregiver in oncology and palliative care. Seminars in Oncology Nursing. 1998;14(2):152–157
  45. Van Manen M. Researching Lived Experience. Canada: The Althouse Press; 1994;
  46. Ward Schofield J. Increasing the Generalizability of Qualitative Research. In:  Hammersley M editors. Social Research: Philosophy, Politics and Practice. London: SAGE; 1993;
  47. Waters KR, Easton N. Individualized care (is it possible to plan and carry out?). Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1999;29(1):79–87
  48. Wilkes L, Beale B, Hall E, Rees E, Watts B, Denne C. Community nurses’ descriptions of stress when caring in the home. International Journal of Palliative Nursing. 1998;4(1):14–20
  49. Wolcott HF. Transforming Qualitative Data (Description, Analysis and interpretation). London: SAGE; 1994;
  50. Zimbelman J. Good Life, Good Death, and the Right to Die (Ethical Considerations for Decisions at the End of Life). Journal of Professional Nursing. 1994;10(1):22–37

PII: S0020-7489(04)00097-5

doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2004.06.004

International Journal of Nursing Studies
Volume 42, Issue 2 , Pages 125-133 , February 2005