Workshop on hastened death as “space for an appreciative discussion”: A qualitative study

Aim

To evaluate the suitability of a drama-based workshop as a method for ethical deliberation.

Background

Nurses worldwide are inadequately prepared to care for people who desire hastened death, which can lead to ethical and moral dilemmas. To address this problem, we developed a drama-based ethical deliberation workshop to assist nurses in these situations. Senghor and Racine’s three moments of ethical deliberation and their quality criteria served as basis for evaluation.

Design

Qualitative descriptive study design.

Methods

Non-participant observations and a survey with incomplete sentences to be completed by nursing students were used. Data analysis followed Mayring’s deductive content analysis approach.

Results

All three moments of ethical deliberation according to Senghor and Racine were identified. Participants recognised hastened death as morally problematic, shared their experiences and gained a deeper understanding of the problem. They reported feeling better prepared for encounters with persons seeking assisted suicide. In terms of its quality, the drama-based workshop achieved good and partial ethical deliberation.

Conclusions

The workshop has demonstrated its suitability as a method for ethical deliberation. The workshop should be complemented by specific modules, such as communication skills and be tailored to other professional groups. A validated instrument is needed to ensure a more comprehensive assessment of the quality.