Τhe effect of the religious attitudes on the death attitudes and death anxiety in elderly intensive care patients: a cross-sectional study

Background: Negative death attitudes and death fear were reported at a high level among intensive care patients. Research indicates that nurses should know the factors affecting the death attitudes and death anxiety in intensive care patients to reduce these high levels of anxiety and negative attitudes. Religions have a strong relationship with death.Aim: This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the effect of religious attitudes on death attitudes and death anxiety in elderly intensive care patients.Methods: The data of the study were collected between January 2019 and January 2020 in the intensive care unit of a university hospital in a province located in the east of Turkey. A total of 185 elderly patients participated in the study. Patient Identification Form, Ok-Religious Attitude Scale (ORAS), the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), and Death Attitudes Profile-Revised (DAP) were used for data collection. IBM SPSS version 25.0 was used for data analysis.Results: Most of the patients (88.6%) were at high level of self-reported religious attitudes. The mean DAS score of the patients was 9.02 ± 1.64, DAP was 120.40 ± 23.70, and ORAS was 31.25 ± 2.90. According to regression analysis, the increase in ORAS scores decreased the DAS score and increased the DAP score (p <0.05).Conclusion: There was a negative relationship between religious attitudes and death anxiety and a positive relationship between religious attitudes and attitudes towards death in elderly patients in intensive care units. Nurses should evaluate the patients’ religious attitudes while they plan interventions to reduce patients’ death anxiety or to develop positive attitudes toward death in these patients.

Stavovi o vlastitoj smrtnosti učenika Medicinske škole Dubrovnik

Introduction: Mortality is an essential determinant of human life, which is why as long as people live and know how to live, it cannot be erased from consciousness. Given the awareness of one's own mortality, man is faced with the problem of how to reconcile the desire to live with the knowledge of the limitations of his life. Objective: The objective is to investigate and determine the level of awareness of mortality as well as possible differences concerning different sociodemographic characteristics of high school students from Dubrovnik. Subjects and methods: The research was conducted on a sample of 237 students of the Medical School in Dubrovnik. The level of awareness of one's own mortality was measured by a questionnaire called the Death Attitudes Questionnaire. The Mann-Whitney U Test was used to determine differences in mortality awareness between students of different sexes, while the Kruskal-Walis H test was used to determine differences concerning age, grade, and occupation. The SPSS statistical program was used for statistical analysis. Results: Adolescent respondents expressed a wide range of attitudes about mortality in this study. Gender (p&gt;0.05) is not a significant determinant of attitudes about mortality of respondents included in this study, while age, grade and occupation (p&lt;0.05) proved to be significant determinants of differences in respondents' responses. The most common problems in understanding the deaths of the respondents were expressed by the statements "How will I die?", "What is the meaning of life?", "Will it be painful?", "I'm worried that you are just gone!" that's how it all ends. " Conclusion: Indicators of an individual's relationship to different segments of mortality thinking were analyzed. In general, the distributed results showed that respondents of different sociodemographic characteristics significantly showed openness to more positive thoughts and a higher level of awareness regarding mortality.

Sikap Perawat Terhadap Pasien Menjelang Ajal Dan Sikap Terhadap Kematian

Merawat pasien menjelang ajal merupakan pengalaman yang kurang menyenangkan bagi perawat karena bisa menimbulkan rasa takut, cemas, sedih dan frustasi. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mengetahui hubungan antara sikap perawat pasien menjelang ajal dan sikap terhadap kematian. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif korelasi dengan menggunakan tehnik convinence sampling kepada 95 perawat yang bekerja di Rumah Sakit Advent Bandung. Pengumpulan data dilakukan pada bulan Oktober - November 2019. Untuk mengukur sikap perawat terhadap pasien menjelang ajal digunakan kuesioner Frommelt’s Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale. Sedangkan untuk mengukur sikap perawat terhadap kematian digunakan kuesioner Death Attittudes Profile-Revised (DAP-R). Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar perawat memiliki sikap yang negatif terhadap pasien menjelang ajal (dying attitude) yaitu 83% dan 81.1% menunjukkan sikap yang negatif terhadap kematian (death attitude). Hasil uji-t dan uji-F menunjukkan bahwa unit kerja dan pelatihan paliatif mempunyai hubungan yang positif terhadap perawatan menjelang ajal dengan nilai sig< 0.05. Oleh karena itu penulis menyarankan agar perawat diberikan pelatihan tentang perawatan paliatif agar dapat meningkatkan sikap yang positif dalam merawat pasien menjelang ajal dan sikap terhadap kematian. Kata kunci: kematian; menjelang ajal; sikap perawatNURSE’S BEHAVIOR TOWARD DEATH AND DYING PATIENT ABSTRACT Caring for a dying patient is an unpleasant experience because nurses can feel frightened, anxiety, sadness, and frustration. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between nurse’s behavior towards death and dying patient. Data collection was conducted from October - November 2019 to 95 nurses at Adven Hospital of Bandung using a convenience sampling technique and descriptive correlation method using Frommelt's Attitude toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) scale and Death Attitudes Profile-Revised (DAP-R) questionnaire. The results of this study indicate that the majority (87.4 %) of nurses have a negative dying attitude, and 81.1 % of nurses have a negative death attitude. F-test and t-test show that the work unit and palliative training have a significant correlation (sig <0.05) to nurses’ dying attitude. Therefore the authors suggest that nurses need to take palliative training to enhance nurses' positive dying attitudes and death attitudes. Keyword: death; dying; nurse attitude

Death Attitudes in Clergy Work: Death Attitudes and Their Linkage to Work Orientation and Wellbeing among the Finnish Clergy

In this study, the focus is on death attitudes among the clergy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and their role in clergy work. The aim is to find out whether these attitudes have any practical relevance in clergy work and to see if the death attitudes are linked to the work orientation and wellbeing among the clergy. The death attitudes are measured by the Death Attitude Profile-Revised DAP-R (N=650). The results show that death attitudes have a multifaceted role in clergy work. Negative death attitudes were linked to an outward motivational orientation in work and lower levels of work wellbeing, and positive, on the other hand, to lower levels of burnout and higher levels of work engagement. These results show the importance of the competence related to death in clergy work and these notions should be acknowledged in the education and further education of the clergy.

Matters of Life and Death: An Experimental Study Investigating Psychological Interventions to Encourage the Readiness for End-of-Life Conversations

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Talking about death and dying is evoking discomfort in many persons, resulting in avoidance of this topic. However, end-of-life discussions can alleviate distress and uncertainties in both old and young adults, but only a minority uses this option in palliative care. Even in healthy populations, talking about death is often seen as alleviative and worthwhile, but rarely initiated. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> To investigate different psychological interventions (a) encouraging the readiness for end-of-life discussions and (b) changing death attitudes in healthy adults of different ages. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> 168 participants were randomized to four different interventions (IG1: value-based intervention with end-of-life perspective, IG2: motivation-based intervention with end-of-life perspective, IG3: combination of IG1 and IG2, CG: control group). Primary outcome was the readiness to engage in end-of-life topics. Secondary outcomes were fear of death, fear of dying and death acceptance. Assessments took place before, directly after the intervention and at 2 weeks of follow up. <b><i>Results:</i></b> IG2 and IG3 reported significantly more changes in the readiness to engage in end-of-life discussions than the CG (<i>F</i>[5.61, 307] = 4.83, <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001, η<i>p</i>² = 0.081) directly after the intervention. The effect of IG3 remained stable at the follow-up. There were no significant effects of the interventions on end-of-life fears or death acceptance. Acceptability of the interventions was very high. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Short interventions can be useful to encourage end-of-life discussions and could be integrated in health care programs. The efficacy and effectiveness of these short interventions in palliative patients are currently examined.

Experiences of a Group of Senior Nursing Students with End of Life Care and Death in Turkey

Nursing students may feel unprepared to manage the care of dying individuals and may experience anxiety and fear related to death and dying. Preparing nursing students for this situation can help them provide quality care to dying patients. This study aimed to examine the end-of-life care values and behaviors and death attitudes of senior nursing students. In examining these variables, the Values and Behaviors of Intensive Care Nurses for End-of-Life Instrument and the Death Attitude Profile-Revised Scale were used. It was found that the students developed positive attitudes and behavior towards end-of-life care, and that they believed death to be a natural part of life and there is life after death. Students who felt that the information they received during their education was partially sufficient were more likely to have negative death attitudes. It can be recommended that teaching strategies in the education of the nursing students be developed.