Background: Most studies on euthanasia fail to explain the intenTons of health professionals when facedwith performing euthanasia and are atheoreTcal. Research objecTve: ±he purpose of this study was toidenTfy the psychosocial determinants of nurses’ intenTon to pracTse euthanasia in palliaTve care if itwere legalised. Research design: A cross-secTonal study using a validated anonymous quesTonnairebased on an extended version of the ±heory of Planned Behaviour. ParTcipants and research context: Arandom sample of 445 nurses from the province of Quebec, Canada, was selected for parTcipaTon in thestudy. Ethical consideraTons: ±he study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Commi²ee of theCentre hospitalier universitaire de Québec. Findings: ±he response rate was 44.2% and the mean scorefor intenTon was 4.61 ³ 1.90 (range: 1–7). ±he determinants of intenTon were the subjecTve (odds raTo= 3.08; 95% con´dence interval: 1.50–6.35) and moral (odds raTo = 2.95; 95% con´dence interval: 1.58–5.49) norms. Speci´c beliefs which could discriminate nurses according to their level of intenTon wereidenT´ed. Discussion: Overall, nurses have a slightly posiTve intenTon to pracTse euthanasia. ±heirfamily approval seems parTcularly important and also the approval of their medical colleagues. Nurses’moral norm was related to bene´cence, an ethical principle. Conclusion: ±o our knowledge, this is the´rst study to idenTfy nurses’ moTvaTons to pracTse euthanasia in palliaTve care using a validatedpsychosocial theory. It also has the disTncTon of idenTfying the ethical principles underlying nurses’moral norm and intenTon.Determinant; euthanasia; intenTon; nurse; palliaTve careBackgroundEuthanasia (from the Greek eu (good) and thanatos (death)) is someTmes put forward as an alternaTveto palliaTve care.[1] It must be recognised that despite great progress in palliaTve care, caregivers aresTll confronted with the physical, psychological or spiritual limitaTons of their power to alleviatesuµering. In some cases, it is impossible to provide suitable treatment for paTents whose suµering maybe seen as ‘unnecessary’ or even ‘inhuman’. Yet, this pracTce is also held to be at odds with thephilosophy of palliaTve care,[2] which aims to relieve suµering while accompanying paTents unTl theend of their lives. It is thus not surprising, even though euthanasia is illegal in Canada, that it remains acontroversial topic and generates far from unanimous support among healthcare professionals.According to previous reviews of studies on a¶tude towards euthanasia among nurses, religion, age andnursing specialty signi´cantly aµect their views on euthanasia.[3] ,[4] Moreover, arguments for oragainst euthanasia among nurses would be predominantly guided by the following four ethicalprinciples: respect for autonomy, non-male´cence, bene´cence and jusTce.[5] Another review alsoadded quality of life, sancTty of life and the slippery slope as other important principles underlyingnurses’ arguments for or against euthanasia.[4] Nurses’ main arguments for supporTng euthanasiaappear to be the paTent’s right to die with dignity, the wish to relieve the paTent of unbearable pain(bene´cence) and the paTent’s right to decide about his/her life and death (autonomy).[3] On the otherhand, nurses’ main arguments for being against euthanasia are the following: that primary care shouldbe about alleviaTng pain not ending life (non-male´cence, sancTty of life), their con´dence in palliaTvecare, religious and moral objecTons, and a concern for potenTal abuse such as performing euthanasiawithout paTents’ consent.[3]Most studies on euthanasia have explored the opinion of health professionals regarding its legalisaTonor their experience when this act is requested. However, they failed to explain the intenTons ofcaregivers faced with performing an act of euthanasia, especially as most studies are also atheoreTcal

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