Using a Mediating Model of Death Attitude and Meaning in Life to Understand Nursing Students Attitude About Hospice Care
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Nurse Education Today
Abstract
Background: Nurse-led hospice teams are an emerging trend in contemporary health care practice in China. However, Chinese nursing students are often ill-prepared to work in hospice care. Study findings on the attitude of nursing students toward the care of people who are dying and death varied among different countries and regions.
Objectives: To propose and empirically test a mediating model that examines how death attitude and meaning in life interact to affect Chinese undergraduate nursing students and their attitude toward the care of people who are dying.
Design: A cross-sectional study.
Participants: A convenience sample of 1410 Chinese undergraduate nursing students.
Methods: Data were collected from July to December 2020 using Chinese versions of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale, Form B (FATCOD-B-C), Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R-C), and Purpose in Life Test (CPLT-C). SPSS version 22.0 and AMOS version 24.0 were used for statistical analysis.
Results: The average FATCOD-B-C score was 98.28 ± 8.02. Death attitude and meaning in life were positively correlated with attitude toward care of the dying (p < 0.001), but death attitude was negatively correlated with meaning in life (p < 0.001). Pathway analysis showed that fear of death was significantly and positively correlated with attitude toward care of people who are dying. A mediating role was found among neutral acceptance, escape acceptance, and meaning in life to some extent. Meaning in life suppressed effects among the model.
Conclusion: This study revealed that Chinese undergraduate nursing students' attitude toward care of the dying was a positive nurturing process. Future nurse education should first identity the fear of death, neutral acceptance, or escape acceptance of nursing students' death attitude, and then develop a hospice curriculum based on fear management.
DOI
10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105448
Publication Date
9-2022
Keywords
Attitude toward care of the dying, Death attitude, Escape acceptance, Fear of death, Hospice care, Meaning in life, Neutral acceptance, Nursing student
ISSN
1532-2793
Recommended Citation
Yu H, Sun C, Xie L, Wang L, Song J, Zhu Y, Xiao R, Lowe S, Bentley R, Zhou D. Using a Mediating Model of Death Attitude and Meaning in Life to Understand Nursing Students Attitude About Hospice Care. Nurse Education Today. 2022; 116. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105448.
