Comparison of Death Orientation of Nurses before and after Hospice Training Program

Choi, Soon Hee; Park, Min Jung

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done for the purpose of comparing death orientation scores of nurses before and after a hospice training program. METHOD: The participants were 56 nurses who completed the hospice training program at C university in Kwang Ju city. The data were gathered from October 2001 to December 2002 by questionnaire. The data were analyzed by using frequency, paired t-test, ANOVA and Pearson's correlation coefficients. RESULTS: The mean scores for death orientation before and after hospice training were mid range scores of 57.2 and 57.0 respectively and this difference was not significant. The death orientation score before hospice training was significantly different according to the 'work place (F=3.16, p=.033)' of nurses but after the hospice training there was no significant difference for any of the general characteristics. The death orientation scores before and after hospice training showed no correlation with the religiosity score either. CONCLUSION: Considering the mid range scores and the lack of significant difference after the intervention, this study shows that there is a need to analyze the content of hospice education programs and the need to change death orientation. This is especially true when the participants are professional hospice nurses who are being prepared to give care to people who are dying. In order to develop more appropriate programs there is a need to examine the process by which nurses come to view death more positively.