The effects of nurses' spiritual well-being and death awareness on end-of-life nursing attitudes in Korea: a cross-sectional study.

The era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, characterized by rapid advancements in digital technology and artificial intelligence, has significantly altered existing jobs and the employment landscape []. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to job losses, increased unemployment rates, and shifts in work arrangements, such as remote working, thereby intensifying the societal perception of a need for a new normal regarding employment []. Decent work, as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO), refers comprehensively to employment opportunities providing productive and fair income, workplace safety, social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom of expression and organization, participation in decisions affecting one’s life, and guaranteed gender equality []. Although the ILO has emphasized that ensuring decent work in nursing requires addressing issues related to inadequate staffing and improvement of working hours [], the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened threats to the safety and health of healthcare workers []. In South Korea, conflicts between the medical community and government have exacerbated employment instability among nurses and increased employment uncertainty for nursing students preparing to enter the profession []. Employment uncertainty negatively affects students preparing to enter the workforce by inducing adverse psychological states, causing a delay in decisions to engage in work, and reducing economic activity, thereby hindering their entry into decent jobs []. According to the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), decent work includes a safe workplace, adequate rest and freedom, organizational values aligned with personal and community values, appropriate compensation, and healthcare benefits []. On the basis of PWT, work serves as a means of self-determination, encompassing career decisions influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations; hence, this theory provides a useful theoretical foundation for youth preparing to enter the workforce []. Initially, the primary target groups of PWT were marginalized populations, such as ethnic minorities and individuals with disabilities []; however, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the theory has expanded to include occupations involving face-to-face tasks that threaten personal safety, such as nursing []. In particular, since nursing students, in comparison to general college students, have concretely envisioned their future employment and occupation [], it is appropriate to apply the decent work framework emphasized by the ILO and PWT while integrating a future-oriented perspective []. According to PWT, factors predicting decent work include work volition, career adaptability, economic constraints, and marginalization. Experiences of economic constraints and marginalization enhance decision-making abilities regarding quality career and career adaptability or preparedness, thereby influencing the attainment of quality employment []. However, since nursing curricula in South Korea are predominantly standardized because of the four-year education programs and nursing students’ socioeconomic constraints primarily stem from parental factors [,], it is effective to examine nursing students’ future perceptions of securing decent work by focusing on career adaptability []; nursing professionalism, which provides a conceptual framework for evaluating views and behaviors toward professional nursing []; and social comparison orientation [], which can be activated during information-seeking from others in times of heightened employment uncertainty; while controlling for motivation for choosing a major and economic constraints.