Euthanasia AND Psychologists
Description
Attitudes, Roles, and Competencies of Clinical Psychologists Regarding Euthanasia due to Unbearable Mental Suffering This study examined the attitudes, roles, and competencies of clinical psychologists in Flanders toward euthanasia in cases of UMS euthanasia. A total of 242 clinical psychologists participated in the survey. This study employed a cross-sectional quantitative design using an online questionnaire. Overall, results indicated that clinical psychologists hold a predominantly positive attitude toward UMS euthanasia. The mean total score was 79.13, which is above the neutral midpoint score of 63. Psychologists also endorsed their role in decision‑making and exploring alternatives (87.2%). Almost all (96.3%) felt responsible for discussing alternatives prior to a decision. In terms of professional competencies, nearly half of the clinical psychologists in this study (47.1%) reported insufficient knowledge to adequately handle euthanasia requests, while 37.6% indicated that they lacked the necessary practical skills. Additionally, an overwhelming majority (94.2%) felt that euthanasia in the context of unbearable mental suffering was not adequately covered during their formal education or training.
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This study employed a cross-sectional quantitative design using an online questionnaire. The study population consisted of clinical psychologists practicing in Flanders (Dutch-speaking region of Belgium), working across primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare settings. Participants first answered demographic questions (age, gender, healthcare echelon, palliative care team membership, work in specialized psychiatric settings, and prior euthanasia involvement) before proceeding to the main survey on attitudes, roles, and competencies regarding UMS euthanasia. The questionnaire (UMS-EAS-NL) comprised 38 items adapted from recent re-search on attitudes, roles, and competencies related to UMS euthanasia among nursing students (Demedts et al., 2023; Demedts et al., 2023). The first section, assessing attitudes, was based on the Euthanasia Attitude Scale (Tordella & Neutens, 1979), refined by (Rogers, 1996) to avoid gender-biased language and confirm internal consistency. Items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5). Negative phrasing items were reverse-coded to ensure consistent scoring direction. Possible score ranges per theme were: Ethical considerations (11–55), Practical considerations (4–20), Treasuring life (4–20), and Naturalistic beliefs (2–10), with higher total scores indicating greater acceptance of UMS euthanasia. The second section measured perceived roles and competencies, developed from literature review and expert consensus with adjustments to focus on clinical psycholo-gists’ specific responsibilities and skills (Dennis Demedts et al., 2023), also using a 5-point Likert scale. All data were collected anonymously using Qualtrics and analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics version 29.0.