Diagnostic Label: ‘Fear of the Process of Dying’

The objective of the project was to define this diagnostic label with its defining characteristics and related factors, in order to present it at the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA-I) for inclusion within the taxonomy. At the same time, in order to reinforce the proposal, nursing interventions derived from nursing diagnosis were created so as to assess their applicability in healthcare practice.

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Description

A three-phase prospective-type study was developed:

-       The first phase consisted in defining the proposed diagnostic label as well as the related factors and the defining characteristics and in validating it with the Delphi technique, through a panel of experts formed by professionals of various disciplines related to end-of-life care.
-       In the second phase, the nursing interventions derived from the diagnostic label were identified and formulated through the nominal group technique, according to the opinion of a sample of nursing professionals with experience in the palliative care field.
-       In the third phase, the usefulness and applicability of the interventions derived from the proposed diagnostic label were assessed with a third group of nurses specialised in end-of-life care and in the Delphi technique.

The results obtained were as follows:

-       In the first phase, the initial questionnaire contained the definition of the diagnostic label, 16 defining characteristics and 17 related factors. Those items with a >3 average were considered, which resulted in a total of 15 defining characteristics and 19 related factors.
-       In the second phase, 7 expert nurses participated in a nominal group. Two 2.5-hour sessions were necessary, during the course of which the conversations were recorded and transcribed for subsequent analysis. This resulted in 44 nursing activities which were categorised in 5 labels.
-       In the third phase, the clinical usefulness of the 44 above-mentioned activities was validated from a group of experts formed by 10 end-of-life area nurses, through a self-administered questionnaire. Activities with a >3 average were considered, 37 in total; 7 activities were dismissed.

Information source:
Catalanurses.cat: Definició i validació de l’etiqueta diagnòstica ‘Temor al procés de morir’ i avaluació de les intervencions infermeres derivades [Internet]. Catalonia [consultation conducted on 8th September 2018]. Available at: https://www.catalanurses.cat/projectes/definicio-i-validacio-de-letiqueta-diagnostica-temor-al-proces-de-morir-i-avaluacio-de-les-intervencions-infermeres-derivades/