SynthesisJournal of advanced nursing2026
Correlates of Mortal Distress Among Healthcare Staff in Hospitals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of advanced nursing, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMortal distress encompasses emotional, cognitive, physical and behavioural responses to death and dying among healthcare staff who frequently encounter mortality in hospital settings. Healthcare workers often experience heightened levels of mortal distress due to their regular exposure to patient deaths, which can negatively impact both their personal and professional lives, leading to burnout and high turnover rates.
aimTo identify and quantitatively synthesise correlates of mortal distress among hospital healthcare staff and examine moderating factors affecting these relationships.
designSystematic review and meta-analysis following PRISMA 2020 guidelines
methodsTwo independent reviewers screened and extracted data from studies published between January 1990 and December 2024 across eight databases (five English: CINAHL, MEDLINE, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus; three Chinese: Airiti, CNKI, Wanfang). Quality assessment was conducted using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Meta-analysis was performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.0.
resultsAnalysis of 94 studies identified three factor domains: personal, job-related and situational. Four job-related factors demonstrated the strongest correlations with mortal distress: competence in coping with death in healthcare contexts, needs for death-related or hospice care training, quality of end-of-life communication, and working in departments with high patient mortality rates. Four significant moderators influenced correlation strength: publication language, geographic region, study quality, and measurement tools used for assessing mortal distress.
conclusionsThis synthesis provides evidence regarding the magnitude and strength of factors associated with mortal distress among healthcare staff. The identification of main and moderator effects emphasises the critical need for developing culturally sensitive, tailored interventions to help healthcare workers navigate mortality-related challenges. IMPLICATIONS: The results can guide healthcare organisations in developing targeted interventions and training programs, inform medical and nursing education curricula by encouraging the inclusion of life and death education, and ultimately enhance staff well-being while improving the quality of patient and family care, especially in palliative care contexts. NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: This study did not include patient or public involvement in its design, conduct, or reporting.
trial registrationPROSPERO number: CRD42021275460.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.