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Background and aim of the work: Nursing education plays a key role in preparing future nurses to deal with dying patients, which represents one of the most emotionally involving aspect of nursing. The aims of the study were to explore nursing students’ attitudes towards care of dying patients in three different European contexts and to analyze the variables that can influence them. Methods: We conducted an international multicenter cross-sectional study. We administered the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale form B (FATCOD-B) and a demographic form to 569 students, enrolled in three Nursing Programmes in different countries (Italy, Spain and United Kingdom), who accepted to participate in the study. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 26.0. Results: Median total FATCOD-B scores indicated intermediate levels of students’ attitudes towards care for dying patients, with a statistically significant difference among the three student groups. The median total FATCOD-B scores did not statistically significantly change in students with different age, gender, year of study, religious beliefs, nursing education on palliative care, previous experiences of dying patient care and personal grieving. Conclusions: In our study, nursing students feel partially prepared in caring for dying patients and their attitudes do not change as the course of study progresses. No selected variables had an impact on students’ attitudes towards palliative care. Since nurses play a vital role in ensuring the quality of care, education on end-of-life care should be offered as a core part of undergraduate nursing programs. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Paola Ferri,1 Serena Stifani,2 Elena Morotti,2 Maria Nuvoletta,3 Loris Bonetti,4 Sergio Rovesti,1 Anna Cutino,5 Rosaria Di Lorenzo6 1Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena 41125, Italy; 2School of Nursing, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena 41124, Italy; 3Occupational Medicine, Maserati SPA, Modena 41121, Italy; 4Nursing Research and Development Unit, Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland, Bellinzona 6500, Switzerland; 5Psychiatry, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena 41124, Italy; 6Psychiatric Intensive Treatment Facility, Mental Health and Drug Abuse Department of AUSL-Modena, Modena 41122, ItalyCorrespondence: Paola FerriDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi, 287, Modena 41125, ItalyEmail paola.ferri@unimore.itIntroduction: Increase in the knowledge of “caring science” among nurses plays a key role in ensuring a correct caring behavior towards patients. Caring training for students is a priority in nursing education, but unfortunately there are limited and conflicting studies which explore this outcome. The purpose of this observational study was to explore the perceptions of caring behaviors by nursing students during their clinical practice training in order to highlight if the level of caring behaviors changes as the nursing course progresses.Materials and Methods: The Caring Behaviors Inventory-24 (CBI-24) was administered to 331 students, enrolled in the three years of an Italian Nursing Course, who accepted to participate in the study (89.2% response rate). The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 26.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).Results: The total mean score of CBI-24 was 4.82 in the first, 5.12 in the second and 5.26 in the third-year students. The CBI-24 dimensions “Responding to individual needs” and “Being with” obtained the highest scores among the students of the first year. At the end of the first year, our students were already able to perform expressive caring, whereas instrumental caring developed at a high level in the second and third years. We did not highlight any statistically significant difference between the two gender CBI-24 item scores.Conclusion: In light of our results, we put in evidence that Nursing Degree Programme favours the development in students of both relational and technical components of caring behaviors. We hope that in future students’ self-assessment of caring behaviors could be considered an educational outcome for Nursing Programme.Keywords: Caring Behaviors Inventory, caring, expressive caring, instrumental caring, nursing education, nursing students

L’argomento di questo lavoro è stato suggerito alle autrici dal ruolo negativo che attualmente l’arsenico sta svolgendo, quasi sempre in maniera del tutto naturale, avvelenando le acque che vengono a contatto, all’aria, con le rocce che lo contengono. Il fenomeno, quasi certamente presente anche nei tempi passati, è stato rilevato recentemente in diverse aree del globo, anche come conseguenza delle attività antropiche, soprattutto in Bangladesh dove decine di milioni di persone consumano abitualmente acqua con un alto contenuto di tale sostanza. Si è voluto analizzare il ruolo che questo metallo ha avuto nell’antichità studiando i testi di autori classici che lo trattano, a volte con nomi diversi come Orpimento o Sandracca, e si è visto che esso, pur essendo tossico, è stato usato anche come farmaco. In tempi più recenti le sue applicazioni sono aumentate soprattutto in campo industriale. Lo studio vuole mettere a confronto gli usi del passato con quelli attuali e rilevare gli effetti ambientali da essi generati.