Investigating and comparing attitudes toward death and hospice care in medical students of different major

Abstract

Objective To describe medical students' attitudes toward death and hospice care before internship, in order to provide the evidence for optimizing end-of-life care education at school. Methods The total of 191 baccalaureate students majored in Chinese medicine and nursing in Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine just before clinical practice were investigated and compared using the Chinese version of the death attitude profile-revised (DAP-R) and the Chinese version of the frommelt attitude toward care of the dying scale-form B (FATCOD-B). Independent t-test and Pearson product-moment correlation were used to analyze the data. Results For students of Chinese medicine, the scores of the 5 dimensions of death attitude are neutral acceptance (3.95±0.55), approach acceptance (2.64±0.60), death avoidance (2.64±0.69), fear of death (2.59±0.61), and escape acceptance (2.45±0.72). The scores of nursing students are neutral acceptance (4.10±0.44), fear of death (2.76±0.71), death avoidance (2.59±0.71), approach acceptance (2.56±0.55), and escape acceptance (2.47±0.80). Neutral acceptance score of nursing students is statistically higher than students of Chinese medicine (t=-2.019, P=0.045). The total score of hospice care attitude of students majored in Chinese medicine and nursing are (103.98±7.63) and (109.66±9.06), and the score of nursing students is statistically higher (t=-4.678, P<0.001). The hospice care attitude score is negatively correlated with fear of death scores, and positively correlated with neutral acceptance score in medical students. Conclusions Despite nursing students' attitudes toward death and hospice care are superior to students of Chinese medicine, there is a big space to improve both groups of students. Therefore, it is imperative for medical colleges and universities to strengthen end-of-life care education, so as to help medical students improving their view of death and understanding of hospice care. Key words: Hospice care; Death attitude; Medical students; Investigation