A Study on the Degrees of Death Orientation and Terminal Care Performance of Nurses

Park, Soon Joo; Choi, Soon Hee

Abstract

This study has been done for the purpose of investigating the degrees of death orientation and terminal care performance. The factors related to these two variables, and the relationship between death orientation and terminal care performance. The subjects of study were 128 nurses who implemented nursing care for terminally ill patients at C University Hospital in Kwang Ju city. The date were collected from March 13 to 19, 1996, by means of Death Orientation by Thorson Powell(1988) and Terminal Care Performance Scale by researcher. The data were analysed by t-test, ANOVA, Duncan test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. The Results of this study were summarized as follows; 1. The mean score of death orientation was 61.4. The degree of death orientation showed no significant difference depending on the general characteristics of nurses. 2. The mean score of terminal care performance was 45.5. In comparison of the degree of terminal care performance among three domains, the mean score of each item tended to show higher degrees in order of'Psychological domain(2.4)','Physical domain(2.2)',' Spiritual domain(1.9)'. 3. The degree of terminal care performance showed significant differences in age (F=11.48 p=.0001), marital status(t=10.49 p=.0015), religion(t=5.01 p=.0270), period of clinical experience(F=10.30 p=0.0001) and ward unit(F=3.73 p=.0036). The degree of terminal care performance in physical domain showed significant differences in age (F=7.26 p=.0010), marital status(t=9.72 p=.0023), period of clinical experience(F=7.03 p=.0013), ward unit(F=6.23 p=.0001). The degree of terminal care performance in psychological domain showed significant differences in age(F=8.73 p=.0003), marital status (t=4.22 p=.0419), religion(t=5.59 p=.0196), period of clinical experience(F=6.36 p=.0023), ward unit(F=3.33 p=.0075). The degree of terminal care performance in spiritual domain showed significant differences in age(F=8.30 p=.0004), marital status(t=10.45 p=.0016), religion(F=5.41 p=.0216), period of clinical experience(F=8.80 p=.0003). 4. The relationship between the degrees of death orientation and terminal care performance showed no correlation(r=-.026 p=.7746).