Attitudes toward death and dying among second-year medical students

One hundred fifteen second-year Wright State University School of Medicine students were given a death and dying attitude survey derived from Shneidman (14) to explore medical student altitudes toward death and dying. It was hypothesized that medical students' attitudes would differ according to sex, religion, marital status, religiosity, and type of geographic origin. Responses to selected death and dying questions were also compared to responses from a national survey of death and dying attitudes to determine possible differences between medical students and the survey population. Steady results of chi-square analyses include statistically significant relationships (using a 0.05 comparisonwise error rate) among certain demographic variables, for example, religion and geographic origin, and attitudes toward the dying process. Implications for patient care and medical education based on survey results are discussed.     

Attitudes toward death and dying among second-year medical students

Abstract

One hundred fifteen second-year Wright State University School of Medicine students were given a death and dying attitude survey derived from Shneidman (14) to explore medical student altitudes toward death and dying. It was hypothesized that medical students' attitudes would differ according to sex, religion, marital status, religiosity, and type of geographic origin. Responses to selected death and dying questions were also compared to responses from a national survey of death and dying attitudes to determine possible differences between medical students and the survey population. Steady results of chi-square analyses include statistically significant relationships (using a 0.05 comparisonwise error rate) among certain demographic variables, for example, religion and geographic origin, and attitudes toward the dying process. Implications for patient care and medical education based on survey results are discussed.     

Attitudes toward research among undergraduate nursing students

Attitudinal changes about research among undergraduate nursing students during their two years in a baccalaureate nursing program showed no significant improvements except for significant improvements in confidence about understanding research terminology methods and evaluating the adequacy of research studies. These improvements were apparent after the course and in the second year when the students were queried again. The overall research attitude score was essentially the same in the senior year as it had been on the pre-test when the students began the program. Although 52.9% of the students indicated they wanted to go on for a master's degree, 6.2% said they definitely wanted to take additional research courses. In the senior year, 31.9% of the students indicated they definitely wanted to go on to graduate school, while 60.4% said they were uncertain; 7.7% indicated they definitely did not want to return to graduate school.     

Attitudes of Asian and American graduate nursing students towards death and dying

This study compared the difference in attitudes towards death and dying between 17 Asian and 11 American graduate nursing students. Asian and American students did not significantly differ in attitudes related to fear of death, of self, or others, but Asian students were significantly more afraid than American students of their own process of dying. Asian students were more averse than American students to interacting and discussing death with dying patients. Talking about death with dying patients was the most difficult aspect of care for both groups. However, Asian students gained more personal satisfaction than American students in caring for dying patients. The findings provoke discussion regarding differences in nursing practice by Asian and American graduate nursing students.     

Attitudes toward death: a survey of nursing students.

The literature devoted to the topics of death and care of the dying is expanding rapidly. As nurses are inevitably involved in terminal illness, death and grief, their attitudes toward death and factors which affect these attitudes, are worthy of study. This report describes the results of a continuing two-year survey of one class of students in a baccalaureate nursing program. A questionnaire was used at the beginning and end of one academic year. Data were obtained regarding background experiences with death, involvement in the care of dying patients, and common ideas, concerns and feelings about death. Data from the second testing also included perceived changes in "positive" and "negative" attitudes toward death, and the relative effect on attitudes of various factors during the year. Suggestions are offered for curriculum development and research in the challenging area of death education in nursing.     

Attitudes of nursing personnel toward death and dying: II. Linguistic indicators of denial.

This study was conducted to examine the attitudes of nursing personal toward death and dying by means of quantitative linguistic analysis. Previous research findings on the attitudinal concept of avoidance support the suitability of the approach. This study sought to examine the proposition that denial, another attitudinal concept appearing frequently in the literature on death and dying, would be manifested in language by increased use of negative lexical forms. It was hypothesized that the use of negatives would increase significantly in death-related responses as compared with non-death-related responses. The sample consisted of 40 nursing personnel interviewed on their expectations and care of terminally ill patients. Dependent variable measures include the ratio of negative lexical forms to total number of words for all death-related and all non-death-related responses. Similar proportions were obtained for selected response categories. Significantly more negatives were used in death-related responses, thus supporting the hypothesis. The value of these methods is discussed, as are the clinical implications for nursing.     

Attitudes of nursing personnel toward death and dying: I. Linguistic indicators of avoidance.

Two sequential studies were conducted to examine the suitability of quantitative linguistic analysis for the study of attitudes. Attitudes of nursing personnel toward death and the care of dying patients were examined unobtrusively by observing changes in selected linguistic behaviors. Avoidance was defined as the substitution of a pronoun for a negatively affected noun. Both studies supported the hypotheses that the use of the pronoun it would be greater in death-related than in non-death-related responses (ps<.01). The initial study demonstrated that general pronoun usage was also increased in selected death-related response categories (p<.01), but this finding may have been related to more standard pronoun usage in English rather than to use as a substitute for purposes of avoidance. The inference of increased use of it as a substitute for negatively affected nouns was substantiated by a review of it-referents for a segment of the data. The scientific and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Attitudes toward older people among nursing students and registered nurses in Sweden

Geriatric nursing is generally not considered to be a popular branch of nursing among Swedish nursing students and registered nurses. It is, therefore, important for nurse educators and others with responsibilities for the development of nursing to pay attention to trends of importance for the care of the elderly. Attitudes - conceptualized as feelings, knowledge, and readiness to act - may be one important factor. It has been reported that feelings toward older people may change with experience, age and gender. The aim of this study was to measure feelings toward older people among nursing students and registered nurses. A convenience sample of 151 undergraduate nursing students and 41 registered nurses in Sweden participated in the study. Data were collected through Kogan's Old People scale. The results confirmed earlier findings and showed that limited previous experience of care of older people, age <25 years, and male gender were significant factors for showing less favourable feelings towards the aged. In the education of nurses, goal-directed experience of elderly care is recommended in order to create positive feelings towards and interest in older people among students. It is also suggested that special considerations should be given to very young students and male students.