Fear of death and its relationship to resilience in nursing students: A longitudinal study

Abstract

AimTaking a corpus of nursing students enrolled in the 2017−2021 nursing degree, we aim to analyse how students' levels of resilience and fear of death evolve in the first three years of the degree and whether there are differences between students based on age and gender. In addition, we aim to describe the relationship between resilience and fear of death. BackgroundThroughout their training, nursing students will encounter situations of grief and death that may generate reactions of rejection, anxiety and emotional imbalance. Recognising and controlling these emotions through specialised training in end-of-life care and fostering resilience is essential. DesignComparative, correlational and longitudinal study. MethodsOur corpus comprised 100 nursing students who were followed through the first three years of their training. Data were collected using a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Collet-Lester Fear of Death Scale and the Resilience Scale. ResultsThe corpus reported medium-high levels of fear of death overall. Patterns were similar for all academic years: fear of other people's death was invariably the highest scoring subscale; and while individual dimensions of the Collet-Lester scale correlated directly and significantly with each other they were found to be inversely related to student age. High levels of resilience were recorded and were highest in the final year. ConclusionsIn this sample of student nurses, fear of death and resilience do not appear to be related to each other. Nursing education must include training specifically targeted at increasing levels of resilience and decreasing fear of death to improve end-of-life care.