Author: Saima Farooq
Supervisor: Ms. Afshi Yahya Khan
Degree: BS
Year: 2005-2009
University: Institute of Applied Psychology, Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan
Abstract
The present study was conducted to explore nurses’ level of death anxiety and their attitude towards care of terminally ill patients and to explore whether an association exists between death anxiety and their attitudes towards care of terminally HIV patients. It was hypothesized that there will be a relationship between death anxiety in nurses and their attitude towards care of terminally ill patients. The research design was Descriptive Correlational Design. The data was collected through Purposive sampling. The sample consisted of 100 staff nurses working in the oncology, cardiac and neurosurgery units, Laming Fear of Death Anxiety Scale (Laming, 1980) was used to measure the death anxiety. Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) Scale, Form B (Frommelt, 1991), Japanese version, was used to assess the attitude of nurses towards care of the terminally ill patients. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to determine the correlation between death anxiety and their attitudes towards care of terminally ill patients. The results indicated that nurses working with terminal illnesses scored high on six out of eight sub scales of Death Anxiety Scales. There was a small positive correlation between the nurses’ fear and fear of pain and their attitude towards care of terminally ill patients.There was a small negative correlation between nurses’ fear of leaving loved ones andtheir attitude towards care of terminally ill patients. The results were consistent withprevious findings. It was concluded that the nurses were facing death anxiety and theattitude of the majority was positive towards the dying patients but they were unlikely totalk with them or even educate them about death.
Keywords: Death Anxiety, Nurses, Terminally Ill, Care.
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Corresponding Address: Department of Applied Psychology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: chairperson@appsy.pu.edu.pk, Phone: 92-42-9231245
