Introduction: Coping with dying and death of children and adolescents at the workplace has a significant impact on healthcare workers and their professional work, as well as on their private lives, therefore, psychological support at the workplace is vital. Purpose: Using empirical research, the purpose is to determine how nurses cope with dying and death of children and adolescents. Methods: A quantitative approach with a cross-sectional design was used. The study involved 62 licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and masters of nursing. An online questionnaire was used for data collection. Participants were asked about the frequency and ways of coping with dying and death of children and adolescents; the emotions they experience; psychological support at the workplace; coping with stress and its impact on their personal lives; and obtaining knowledge about this topic and instructions for communicating effectively with the parents of a dying patient during formal education and at the workplace. The data was analysed using the SPSS statistics software, using a variety of non-parametric tests. Results: The intensity of the unpleasant emotions the participating nurses experience in coping with dying and death of children and adolescents does not change with years of service, nor is their experience of sadness linked to the years of service and the workplace. Nurses consider they do not receive enough knowledge on coping skills during formal training and at the workplace. At the workplace, they mostly use conversations with other team members, which they also consider the most effective coping strategy. Such situations also affect private lives of the majority of the respondents. Discussion and conclusion: The research results suggest that more psychological support at the workplace is needed. Moreover, we suggest more education on palliative care and coping with dying and death of patients already during the formal education. Training workshops on this topic should be organised more frequently at the workplace and nurses should be encouraged to attend them as much as possible. Future studies should investigate other forms of psychological support that could be available to employees and determine, how to make them more accessible.
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