Original Research

Abstract

Improving end-of-life care demands that first you define what constitutes a good death for different cultures. This study was conducted to evaluate a good death concept from the Iranian bereaved family members' perspective. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was designed using a Good Death Inventory (GDI) questionnaire to evaluate 150 bereaved family members. Data were analyzed by SPSS. Based on the results, the highest scores belonged to the domains “being respected as an individual,” “natural death,” “religious and spiritual comfort,” and “control over the future.” The domain perceived by family members as less important was “unawareness of death.” Providing a good death requires professional caregivers to be sensitive and pay attention to the preferences of each unique person's perceptions. In order to implement holistic care, caregivers must be aware of patients' spiritual needs. Establishing a specific unit in a hospital and individually treating each patient as a valued family member could be the best way to improve the quality of end-of-life care that is missing in Iran.