Positive Effects of Education on Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward Death and Dying

Abstract

Introduction Death is a universal experience which none can escape. Nevertheless, in North American society death is still a topic which many avoid because of conscious and unconscious fears and attitudes which are frequently fueled by superstitions, myths, and taboos. Health professionals are not immune to these fears and attitudes. Nurses, as the primary care givers for dying patients and their families, are frequently ill equipped to assist individuals and families in handling the human experience of dying. The pioneering work of Quint (1967, 1969) and Kubler-Ross (1969, 1972) helped nurse educators to recognize the importance of including death education in nursing curricula, and recent surveys indicate that this is now happening in many nursing schools (Trush, Paulus, & Trush, 1979; Caty & Downe-Wamboldt, 1983). This article describes the results of a study which measured the death attitudes of third year baccalaureate nursing students.