The effect of creative drama education on first-year undergraduate nursing student attitudes toward caring for dying patients

Abstract

BackgroundBeing faced with death and caring for dying patients is one of the most difficult aspects of the nursing profession. As they are the nurses of the future, it is important to prepare nursing students for this difficult role so that they are able to provide a qualified caring service. Ensuring nursing students are given a qualified education plays a key role in nursing education. ObjectivesThis study was conducted to determine the effect of a creative drama education program on first year nursing students' attitudes toward caring for dying patients. DesignThis study was designed according to a quasi-experimental model with a pretest–posttest control group. SettingA medium-sized urban university school of nursing in Turkey. ParticipantsForty (n = 40) first grade Bachelor of Nursing Science (BSN) students. MethodA personal data form, Frommelt Attitude Scale for Caring for Dying (FATCOD), and Individual Patient Feedback Form for Creative Drama Education were used to collect the study data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, and the Mann–Whitney U test. ResultsThe intervention group's mean posttest FATCOD score (112.45 ± 8.43) was higher than that of the control group (105.35 ± 8.67), and this difference was found to be statistically significant (U = 111.500; p = 0.017). There was a non-significant difference between the intervention (97.90 ± 8.25) and control group (101.55 ± 7.41) in the pretests (U = 148.500; p = 0.163). ConclusionCompared with the expression technique, creative drama education was found to be a more effective method for developing students' attitudes toward caring for dying individuals.