A Study on Change in Death Orientation of College Student Nurses : comparison of pre and post hospice care class

Baek, Seol Hyang; Lee, Mi Aie; Kim, In Hong

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the death orientation of college student nurses and to evaluate the effectiveness in death orientation of a class on 'hospice care'. this was done by investigating the difference between the death orientation before and after the class. METHOD: The instrument used in this investigation was the death orientation scale developed by Thorson and Powell (1988). The subjects of the study were the 47 college student nurses in a 'hospice care' class. The research was carried out between March 2, 2001, when the class began, and June 21, 2001 when the class ended. The collected data were examined using arithmetic mean, percentage, t-test, ANOVA. RESULT: The results of the study are as follows: 1. The average death orientation score of the subjects before the class was 2.80. 2. There were a significant difference in the death orientation scores before and after the class (p<0.001). Before the class, 'hospice care', the students had an average score of 2,80. Their average score decreased to 2.55 after the class. Of 25 death orientation items on the scale, 14 items decreased significantly after the class as compared to before the class. 3. According to personal attributes (religion, the existence of religion, the experience of a death in recently) of subjects, there were no significant statistical differences in death orientation (p>0.05).
CONCLUSION
This study showed that a class on hospice care was effective in changing the death orientation of student nurses.