Effect of Death Preparation Program on Nursing Students' Meaning of Life, Death Anxiety and their Attitude toward Care of Dying Geriatric Patients

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Gerontological Nursing, Faculty of Nursing - Mansoura University

2 Professor of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine - Mansoura University

Abstract

Background: Death is one of the most stressful events nursing students' experiences during their clinical training. Provision of death preparation education has become a critical priority for nursing students to reduce their death anxiety, change their negative attitudes and improving their sense of meaning in life. Aim of the study: Was to evaluate the effect of death preparation program on nursing students' meaning of life, death anxiety and attitude toward care of dying geriatric patients. Subjects and Methods; Research design: A quasiexperimental research design was used. Setting: The study was conducted at Health Technical Institute affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Population. Subjects: A total number of 105 nursing students enrolled in the gerontological nursing course during the second term of the academic year 2023-2024. Tools of data collection: Structured Interview Questionnaire, Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Death Anxiety Scale, and Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying Scale. Results: A statistically significant improvement was observed in meaning of life, death anxiety and attitude toward care of dying geriatric patients' scores among the nursing students post the program implementation. A significant positive relation was observed between meaning in life and death anxiety and meaning in life and attitude toward care of the dying patients for each. Moreover, inversely relation was found between nursing students' death anxiety and their attitude toward care of dying geriatric patients. Conclusion: The death preparation program was significantly effective in improving the score of meaning in life and attitude toward dying geriatric patients. Also, the total mean score of death anxiety was significantly decreased post the program with statistically
significant difference. Recommendation: Implementation of specialized and systematic death preparation educational program on nursing and members of interdisciplinary team more broadly.

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