J Nurs Acad Soc.  1980 Dec;10(2):21-40.

A Study on the Death Consciousness Among Health Care Personnels

• Kwon HJ

Abstract

In order to take care of the dying persons and their survivors in a more positive and affirmative attitube, and to understand the valuable meaning of and dying, a survey was performed to 550 cases of health care personnels including 116 nursing students, 238 medical students, 137 nurses, and 59 doctors. Samplings were made through census Procedure from the entire group of medical and nursing students in College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, and of licenced nurses and doctors in Chung-Ang University Hospital, and in Han- Gang Sacred Heart Hospital from the first to the end of march, 1980. These collected data were computerized at KIST by SPSS programming and were statistically analyzed by chi-square test. Through content analysis of the word associated with death and descriptive analysis of the death-related variables, the following conclusion in is reached. First, Total numbers of death-word percieved by health care personnels were 198 kinds. Among them, 40 kinds of words associated with death were responded from than 1% of the total. As to the 10 death related word responded by free word association method, it was revealed that individual average number of death related word was 7.70 word, whi ch came from higher number of words in the senior students (8.96 word) or the graduates (8.10 word) compared with the freshman (6.84 word). Second, In Content specific analysis of the death related word, more frequently perceived types summarized as the following order; the affective context of death, the diseases, the disasters, the religion, the funeral ceremonies, the separation, the drakness, and the life. Third, The most prevalent 10 words associated with death which the the respondents gave response to the the first recalling werd, were as following o order; the dieases, the sadness, the vanity, the darkness, the frustration, the suicide, the incurable dieases, the graves, the dead, and the catastrophes. By sex, the dicase is outstanding in females, but the vanity is in males. By occupation, the vanity and the dead was frequently observed in student group including senior students, while the incurable dieases presented by doctors. Fourth, In health care personnels, the first perceived ages of death were 11.47+/-3.33 years (8.14-15.80 years). Among them, senior students were inclined to percept death at the earliest age of life (11.28 years), while doctors and nurses perceived death later in their life (12.98 years). Fifth, It is revealed in this survey that the most frequently responded death perceiving motives by health care personnels are 'psychological conflict" and "death of those around them". Death perceiving motives can be classified in two factors; personality and life circumstances. Sixth, It is of interest that only 11.3% health care personnels was found to feel death as inevitable or acceptable event. whereas 58.3% deny or reject it.

MeSH Terms

Censuses
Consciousness*
Darkness
Delivery of Health Care*
Disasters
Female
Frustration
Heart
Humans
Male
Occupations
Students, Medical
Students, Nursing
Suicide
Survivors
Surveys and Questionnaires