Articles Vol. 64 No. 3 24/04/2023

23. DEATH ANXIETY OF NURSING STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND PHARMACY

Nguyen Hoang Long1,2, Nguyen Nguyen Ngoc3,4
1 College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity
2 Viện Khoa học sức khỏe, Trường Đại học VinUni
3 Medlatec Hospital
4 Bệnh viện đa khoa Medlatec
Corresponding author: long.51@hotmail.com
DOI: 10.52163/yhc.v64i3.659
15 Views
10 Downloads
Keywords
Death Anxiety, nurse, end of life care.
Abstract

Background: Nurses are responsible for the bedside care of the patient. They may witness many
patient’s death at work. A high level of nurses’ death anxiety can impede the quality of patient care,
especially in the final stages of patient life. This study was conducted to describe the level of death
anxiety among nursing students.
Objectives: This study aimed to describe the level of death anxiety among nursing students at Thai
Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy in 2022. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive
study was conducted on a convenient sample of 130 full-time nursing students studying at the Thai
Nguyen University of Medicine and Pharmacy in April 2022. The Vietnamese version of the Templer
Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS) was used to assess the level of death anxiety. The total anxiety score is
15 and was classified into three categories, which were No anxiety (0-5), Moderate (6-10), and High
(11-15). Results: Most nurses in this study were female (95.4%) with an average age of 20.35 ± 1.16.
They have no experience caring for family members but have opportunities to care for dying patients
during their studies/work, with a prevalence of 87.7% and 94.6%, respectively. Nursing students’
overall death anxiety level was moderate, with an average score of 6.81 ± 2.43. Fifty percent had
no anxiety, 33.1% had moderate anxiety, and 16.9% were very anxious about death. Conclusion:
Interventions are needed to help nursing students overcome and manage their death anxiety, which
can improve the quality of care for dying persons.

References
[1]
Ali TM, Behrooz A, Investigation of Validity Google Scholar
[2]
and Reliability of Templer Death Anxiety Scale. Google Scholar
[3]
Thought and Behavior in Psychology, 6(21), 72- Google Scholar
[4]
, 2011. Google Scholar
[5]
Cetintas I, Kostak AM, Relationship Between Google Scholar
[6]
Nursing Students’ Death Anxiety and Attitudes Google Scholar
[7]
Toward Dying with Dignity. International Journal Google Scholar
[8]
of Caring Sciences. 14, 2, 1089-1097, 2021. Google Scholar
[9]
Furer P, Walker J, Death Anxiety: Google Scholar
[10]
A CognitiveBehavioral Approach. Journal of Cognitive Google Scholar
[11]
Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 22, 2, Google Scholar
[12]
-182, 2008. Google Scholar
[13]
Karabağ Aydın A, Fidan H, The Effect of Nurses’ Google Scholar
[14]
Death Anxiety on Life Satisfaction During the Google Scholar
[15]
COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey. Journal of Google Scholar
[16]
Religion and Health, 61(1), 811-826, 2022. Google Scholar
[17]
Khajoei R, Dehghan M, Heydarpour N et al., Google Scholar
[18]
Comparison of Death Anxiety, Death Obsession, Google Scholar
[19]
and Humor in Nurses and Medical Emergency Google Scholar
[20]
Personnel in COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of168 Google Scholar
[21]
Emergency Nursing, Vol. 48, No. 5, Sep, 2022, Google Scholar
[22]
pp 559-570, 2022. Google Scholar
[23]
Mohammadi F, Masoumi Z et al., Death anxiety, Google Scholar
[24]
moral courage, and resilience in nursing students Google Scholar
[25]
who care for COVID-19 patients: a cross-sectional Google Scholar
[26]
study. BMC Nursing 21:150, 2022. Google Scholar
[27]
Nia HS, Lehto RH, Ebadi A et al., Death Anxiety Google Scholar
[28]
among Nurses and Health Care Professionals: Google Scholar
[29]
A Review Article. International Journal of Google Scholar
[30]
Community Based Nursing and Midwifery; 4(1): Google Scholar
[31]
-10, 2016. Google Scholar
[32]
Peters L, Cant R, Payne S et al., How Death Google Scholar
[33]
Anxiety Impacts Nurses’ Caring for Patients at Google Scholar
[34]
the End of Life: A Review of Literature. Open Google Scholar
[35]
Nursing Journal, 7, 14-21, 2013. Google Scholar
[36]
Sashin M, Demirkiran F, Adana F, Nursing Google Scholar
[37]
Students’ Death Anxiety, Influencing Factors and Google Scholar
[38]
Request of Caring For Dying People. Journal of Google Scholar
[39]
Psychiatric Nursing;7(3):135–141, 2016. Google Scholar
[40]
Templer D, The construction and validation of Google Scholar
[41]
a death anxiety scale. The Journal of general Google Scholar
[42]
psychology, 82, 165-177, 1970. Google Scholar