Purpose : The purpose of this study was to examine nurses'' knowledge, attitudes, experiences, and confidence toward advance directives.
Methods: This descriptive study used a sample of.398 nurses who worked at one university hospital in a B-city from the 10th to the 30th of June, 2014. I used the knowledge in advance directives(ADs) instrument which was developed by Hong & Kim(2012), and the Knowledge, Attitudinal, Experiential Survey on Advance Directives (KAESAD) instrument which was developed by Jezewski el(2005) revised by Mi Young Kim(2010). The collected data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe test, and Pearson correlation coefficients using the SPSS WIN 21.0 Program. Results: The average of total score for the knowledge toward ADs was 7.86±1.28, the average score of attitudes was 3.01±0.30, the average score of experiences was 2.35±1.92, and the average score of confidence was 3.06±0.55. The knowledge toward ADs were statistically significant to age(F=3.379, p=.035), children(t=2.002, p=.046), work position(t=-1.989, p=.047), and agreement about institutionalization of advance directives(t=2.054 p=.041). The attitudes toward ADs were statistically significant to age(F=4.197, p=.016), married(t=-3.385, p=.001), children(t=3.248, p=.001), education(t=-2.415, p=.016), work career(F=6.946, p<.001), work position(t=-2.219, p=.027), and experiencing death of close relatives or friends(t=2.774, p=.006). The experiences toward ADs were statistically significant to age(F=3.195, p=.042), education(t=-2.034 p=.043), work career(F=3.730, p=.011), work position(t=-3.191, p=.002), work department(F=7.138, p<.001), and awareness of ADs(F=41.594, p<.001). The confidence toward ADs were statistically significant to education(F=3.471, p=.032), work career(F=2.952, p=.033), work position(t=-3.172, p=.002), work department(F=2.848, p=.037), experiencing death of close relatives or friends(t=2.850, p=.005), and awareness of AD(F=21.624, p<.001). There were significant positive correlations between confidence towards ADs and experiences(r=.458, p<.001). Conclusion: It is necessary to develop education program in order to increase the confidence towards ADs.