Attitudes toward Thanatophobia: comparative analysis between pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) nurses, nurse interns and student nurses

Abstract

Background: Thanatophobia refers to the anxiety related to fear of death. Nurses who care for critically ill children and their families may encounter death and dying recurrently, which can be emotionally challenging and distressing. Thanatophobia reported to significantly influence the emotional well-being and quality of life of healthcare professionals, especially those working in PICUs. Methods: A comparative study aimed to investigate and compare the attitudes toward death and dying patients among 176 participants included pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) nurses, nurse interns, and student nurses and to explore the relationship between various factors such as work experience, palliative care training, and personal experience with dying patients utilizing a quantitative descriptive correlation cross sectional research design and convenience sampling technique. Data was collected using a two part online self-reported questionnaire survey with the first section included sociodemographic data and second section was the thanatophobia scale by Merrill, Lorimor, Thornby and Woods (1998). Data was analyzed using the Statistical Software (JMP).