Current Research Trends in Hospice-Related Domestic Nursing Research Theses (1998~2017)

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, the hospice nursing research trend in 1998~2017 was investigated by analyzing research articles on hospice nursing. Methods: Literature search was performed with keywords of ‘nursing’ and ‘hospice on an academic research information service. Also reviewed were all articles published in the Korean Journal of Nursing Science and its 8 subcategory journals, the Korean Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care and the Korean Hospice Association from 1998 through 2017, except thesis papers. Results: In 2013~2017, 79 articles (31.0%) were relevant, up over 7% from 61 articles (23.9%) in 2008~2012. The most studied field was psychology (92 papers, 36.2%) in the Korean Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care. Enrolled in most papers were patients with end-stage cancer (75, 29.5%), which is overwhelmingly high. Most studies used quantitative methods (183, 72.0%). Rec ognition was the most studied theme (62, 24.4%), and 16 of them focused on recognition of death (6.3%). Intervention studies totaled 34 (13.4%), and most of them (7, 2.8%) were conducted for palliative education. Conclusion: Most hospice nursing studies were quantitative studies, conducted with patients, and hospice nursing intervention programs were similar to each other. Thus, more studies with hospice patients and their families are needed. And more experimental and qualitative studies are needed to build an evidence-based nursing study environment. Considering how most studies examined psychological factors, physiological factors such as pain, a major issue in hospice care, should be analyzed in experimental studies to construct a pain intervention program for hospice patients.