• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.122-130
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and understand the meaning and the structure of subjective experiences of intensive care nurses with death of patients with do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders. Methods: Data were collected from eight intensive care nurses at general hospitals using individual in-depth interviews and analyzed by phenomenological research method. Results: The nurses' experiences were grouped into four theme clusters: 1) ambiguity of death without correct answer, 2) a dilemma experienced at the border between death and work, 3) the weight of death that is difficult to carry and 4) death-triggered reflection of life. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop accurate judgment criteria for DNR, detailed regulations on the DNR decision process, guidelines and education on DNR patient care for nurses. It is also needed to develop an intervention program for DNR patients' families.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.154-162
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• 2016

Purpose: This descriptive study was aimed at identifying the relations among geriatric nurses' terminal care performance, death anxiety and self-esteem and the factors that affect nurses' terminal care stress. Methods: Data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire completed by 212 geriatric hospital nurses working in 10 hospitals in K city and B metropolitan city. Results: The survey results showed that the stress factors were terminal care performance and death anxiety. Significant predictors for terminal care stress were death anxiety and terminal care performance. (And the higher the level of death anxiety and terminal care performance were, the heavier the stress was.) These factors explained 32.5% of the variance in terminal care stress. Conclusion: The results of the study suggested that terminal care performance was an important factor of terminal care stress for geriatric nurses. Therefore, it seems that it is necessary to develop an educational intervention program to improve nurses' terminal care performance to reduce their terminal care stress.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.115-123
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify how nursing students' awareness of biomedical ethics and ethical values affect their attitudes towards a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order. Methods: This cross-sectional correlation study was conducted with 275 nursing students enrolled at two universities in North Chungcheong Province and North Gyeongsang Province of South Korea. Data were collected in April 2017 using a self-reported questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS/WIN 23.0 program. Results: The students' attitudes towards DNR were positively correlated with attitudes that seek ethical values but negatively correlated with their biomedical ethics awareness. The explained variance for attitudes towards DNR was 20%, which was significant (F=13.01, P<0.001). Conclusion: These findings suggest that nursing students' biomedical ethics awareness and ethical values were associated with their attitudes towards DNR. Curriculum organization and various educational programs should be developed and applied to help nursing students develop ethical values and awareness of biomedical ethics.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to confirm the influence of hematoonchology unit nurses' positive psychological capital and death awareness on their terminal care performance. Methods: This descriptive study data were collected from self-reported questionnaire filled by 127 oncology nurses at a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea. The variables were positive psychological capital, death awareness, and terminal care performance. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 software. Results: The participants scored $3.93{\pm}0.83$ on positive psychological capital, $3.68{\pm}0.99$ on death awareness and $2.86{\pm}0.65$ on terminal care performance. The three variables were positively correlated. The factors affecting the nurses' terminal care performance were hope and resilience in the subcategory of positive psychological capital and experience of death of family members, relatives or friends within the past year; The explanatory power was 32.1%. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop educational programs to foster hope, resilience, etc. in hematooncology unit nurses to improve their quality of terminal care performance.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.17-39
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• 2017

This study aimed to review Korean-written and English-written studies on music interventions for family caregivers of patients in medical settings. Electronic databases were searched for studies published through 2016, using the keywords of music intervention, family caregivers, and specified settings. A total of 43 studies, five Korean-written and 38 English-written studies, were selected. The results showed that caregivers were the sole participants in five studies (family-only), and caregivers and patients co-participated in 38 studies (family-patient). While diversified types of family participation were included in the English-written studies dating back to the late 1980s, the Korean-written studies were the only ones to include patients as co-participants with their caregivers. Studies with family-only participation tended to be conducted in palliative care units and usually included the spouses of the patients. Meanwhile, studies with family-patient participation tended to be conducted in NICU or cancer units and usually included the parents of the patients. Furthermore, studies with family-only participation tended to apply passive music activities, and those with family-patient participation tended to use active music activities. The results of this study present baseline data on how family-centered care can be included in music interventions in medical settings in Korea, suggesting future studies to systematically analyze music interventions for family caregivers in terms of diversified patient- and caregiver-related factors.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.243-249
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• 2019

This study examined the patient's advantage and respect self-decision to protect human dignity and values, who are on the pathway of the hospice palliative care and death process. The study subjects were the elderly who had signed the advance medical directives at C Christian religious facilities in S region. The survey period was started on July 1st, 2019 and lasted for ten days. The study resulted in four topics and eight sub-topics on the motivation for preparing advanced medical directives. The four topics were 'for children', 'fear of pain', 'want to clear my life', 'felt the necessity', and the sub-topics were 'don't want to make a burden to children', 'don't want to make a worry of medical expenses', 'fear of pain', 'have experience of taking caring of painful death process', 'relaxed mind', 'importance of self-decision', 'have known it before but now decided', and 'it is the new information and decided'. This research is meaningful in that it can form the basis for improving well-dying education programs for the good death of the elderly and supplementing effective systems for preparing advance medical directives.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.13-28
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• 2008

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the subjective structures and types of school age children's perception of death through an investigative study on their perception of death in order to provide a basic material for them to understand death, and develop and carry out an effective death education program. Methods: The study method used the Q Methodology which can investigate the subjective structures and types of school age children's perception of death. For Q-population, 20 school age children were used as subjects for neutral interviews and open surveys, and through documentary research, a total of 132 statements were collected, For Q-samples, 23 statements (Q-samples) were derived through a non-structural method. P-samples were 31 school age children (8-13 year olds), Q-sorting was carried out using Q-cards, and the collected data was analyzed using the PC QUANL program. Results: As a result of the study, children's perception of death was divided into five types. The first type was functional type, characterized by prominent subjective perception regarding the elements of death, such as non-reversibility, universality, non-functionality, and causality. The second was after-life type, characterized by a strong, focus on life after death in one's perception of death, and it included children with Christian background and those who had experienced death in their immediate family. The third was religious type, characterized by a strong belief in being able to still watch over one's family and friends after one's death, resulting in a positive faith in the after-life. The fourth was fearful type, characterized by a deeper fear of death in comparison to other types. The fifth was realistic type, characterized by a strong and positive assent to the perception of good death. Conclusion: The significance of the results of this paper's study to Nursing is as follows. In terms of understanding the subjectivity of school age children's perception of death in nursing practice, and understanding the compositional elements of death presented with strong emphasis in existing literature and studies, the results will expand these understandings and allow us to understand the level of perception in school age children regarding the definition of death, after-life, and good death, be utilized as useful material in developing an effective death education program for them according to their type characteristics, and become the fertilizer for enabling the children to live a proper life and preventing the tendency to make light of death that occur in adolescence and the spread of suicides. In terms of nursing theory, the description and examination of the subjective structures and the characteristics of the different, types of school age children's perception of death can be utilized as useful material for building a model of school age children's perception of death, and be further used for teaching respect for life. In terms of nursing research, the results can contribute to research describing the effects of nursing intervention strategies and developing tools for providing psychosocial nursing in terms of giving school age children a positive perception of death according to their types as well respect for life.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 1999

This survey was designed to evaluate knowledge and attitudes of physicians and nurses toward cancer pain management in South Korea and to compare physicians' knowledge and attitudes with nurses' Ninety-nine physicians and 152 nurses working at four major institutions in South Korea were included for the study. With the 30 items of the knowledge with true and false answers about cancer pain such as pain assessment(6 items), pharmacokinetics of opioids(8 items), analgesics classification(11 items), and drug administration(5 items), total score of knowledge answered by physicians was 21.40, which was not significantly higher than 20.87 answered by nurses. Rates of the correct answer were more than 70% in both physicians and nurses. Physicians were more knowledgeable in pharmacokinetics and analgesics classification than nurses, while nurses higher only in pain assessment than physicians. Since physicians and nurses could not effectively manage the cancer pain because of inappropriate knowledge, it is important to provide intensive education to physicians and nurses about cancer pain management.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to describe and compare how emergency room (ER) nurses and coroners perceive good death and their attitudes toward death. Methods: A survey was performed with 51 ER nurses in P city and 44 coroners nationwide. Data were collected from October 1, 2010 through February 28, 2011. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANCOVA, Scheffe's test using the IBM SPSS statistics 21.0 program. Results: For the perception of good death and attitudes toward death, coroners scored higher ($3.01{\pm}0.43$ and $2.87{\pm}0.35$, respectively) than ER nurses group ($2.95{\pm}0.40$ and $2.61{\pm}0.33$, respectively), but the differences were not significant. The results of perception of good death and attitudes toward death were not statistically significant between ER nurses and coroners. Conclusion: The study showed no difference between ER nurses' perception of good death and attitudes toward death and those held by coroners. The findings of the study show that it is necessary to offer steady education on death to nurses and coroners to help them build a proper understanding of good death and grow positive attitudes toward death.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.122-133
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• 2014

Purpose: We conducted a descriptive correlational study to determine a relationship between nurses' awareness of good death and attitudes toward terminal care, which in turn could be used as basic data for improvement of the quality of terminal care at geriatric hospitals. Methods: From April 3, 2013 through April 22, 2013, data were collected from 230 nurses working at geriatric hospitals. Results: Nurses' attitudes toward terminal care showed no significant correlation with awareness of good death, but it was positively correlated with a sense of closeness, a subfactor of awareness of good death. There was negative correlation between emotions regarding a deathbed, a subfactor of attitudes of nurses in charge of terminal patients, and awareness of good death. We found positive correlation between terminal care performance and awareness of good death. Conclusion: This study warrants the need for nursing education catered to characteristics of geriatric hospitals and development of diverse intervention strategies to help them to attain a positive attitude toward death by familiarizing themselves with the concept of good death and enhancing job satisfaction.