• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.14-22
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• 2018

Purpose: This study examined the effects of a hospice palliative education program for adults on their perception of hospice, attitude towards death, and meaning of life. Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group design. Among 43 participants, 22 were assigned to the non-equivalent experimental group and 21 to the control group. The hospice palliative education program comprised 10 three-hour sessions, each given once a week. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test and ${\chi}^2-test$ using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Significant differences between the experimental and control groups were observed in their perception of hospice (t=6.63, P<0.001), attitude towards death (t=2.36, P=0.023), and meaning of life (t=5.06, P<0.001). Conclusion: The results indicate that this education program could positively affect the perception of hospice, attitude toward death, and meaning of life in adults. More studies are warranted to explore the effects of this education program for various age groups so that it may help more people get positive understanding of hospice palliative care. The results suggest this program could help improve the negative perception of hospice, negative attitude towards death and meaning of life that are generally held by the public.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.222-232
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was to investigate the relationships between spiritual well-being, attitude towards death and perception of hospice, and the factors influencing hospice perception of high school students. Methods: A survey was conducted with 229 students in four high schools in B city from May 1, 2015 through May 31, 2015. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, stepwise multiple regression using the SPSS 18.0 program. This study was approved by the internal review board. Results: The factors influencing hospice perception of the high school students were previous recognition of hospice (${\beta}=0.412$, P<0.001), attitude towards death preparation among sub-variables of attitude towards death (${\beta}=-0.244$, P<0.001), subjective school life satisfaction (${\beta}=-0.215$, P<0.001), and sex (${\beta}=0.191$, P<0.001). The more positive the attitude towards my body after death and that towards death preparation was, the more positive recognition for hospice was. The total explanatory power of these factors was 34.5%. Conclusion: To improve high school students' perception of hospice, it is necessary to provide them with a hospice education program to help them with their attitudes towards death preparation and their understanding of hospice.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.11-25
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence healthcare providers' attitude towards end-of-life care (EOLC) in the emergency department (ED) in hospital settings. Methods: From June 1 through June 30, 2014, a descriptive correlational study was performed with 41 doctors and 105 nurses stationed in the ED. Results: According to a regression model on the factors affecting healthcare providers' professional attitude towards EOLC, 28.1% of variance (F=15.185, P=0.000) was explained by awareness of death, gender and personal attitude towards EOLC. And 34.1% of the healthcare providers' personal attitude was related with awareness of death, experience of hospice education, occupations and professional attitude towards EOLC. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that attitude towards EOLC was influenced by awareness of death and personal characteristics. Healthcare providers in the ED should be provided with tailored training to improve their understanding of death. Also an educational program should be developed and provided to ED healthcare providers to improve their awareness of death.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.130-142
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze attitude toward dignified dying of Korean students majoring in human service area. Methods: The Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used. The 34 selected Q-statements from each of 38 subjects were classified into a shape of normal distribution using a 9 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using a QUANL PC program. Results: Four types of attitude toward dignified dying from the subjects were identified. Type I is an expression type for happy emotion, Type II is a dislike type for life prolongation, Type III is a pursuit type for relationship improvement, and Type IV is a perception type for family presence. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that integrating multi-disciplinary curriculum development related to dignified dying and death education for students majoring in human service area are needed.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.223-231
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore how nurses' attitude toward dignified death and moral sensitivity affect their end-of-life care performance. Methods: Study participants were 172 nurses who work at university hospitals in a metropolitan city in Korea. Data were collected from June 20 through August 13, 2012 using the Dignified Death Scale, Moral Sensitivity Scale, and End-of-Life Care Performance Scale. Data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 19.0 program. Results: Factors affecting nurses' end-of-life care performance included moral sensitivity, dignified death and education level. Conclusion: Moral sensitivity, dignified death and education level should be considered when developing an educational program for nurses' end-of-life care performance.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.20-27
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Death Education Program which had been provided to family caregivers of disabled individuals. A single group pretest-posttest design was employed for this study, which was conducted at a community rehabilitation center located in Ulsan, South Korea. Methods: Death Education Program was conducted for 16 family caregivers of disabled individuals who agreed to participate in this study. A 2.5-hour session was conducted once a week for 10 weeks. To investigate the effects of the education program, structured questionnaires, which assessed the patients and their family member's conceptions on the meaning of life, and their resilience, burden, and attitude towards death, were administered before and after the program. Results: The subjects' conception of the meaning of life and resilience did not significantly change. The median scores for the burden of family caregivers declined, while those for the subjects' attitude towards death increased, after attending the education program. Conclusion: The findings showed that Death Education Program has an affirmative effect on the burden of family caregivers of disabled individuals and their attitude towards death.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.375-384
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to identify the level and correlation of subjective health status, attitude toward death and spiritual well-being of nurses. The subjects were 338 nurses in two university general hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi area. Data were collected using a structuralize questionnaires regarding subjective health status, attitude toward death and spiritual well-being from March to May in 2013. Data were processed with SAS for Windows statistics program. For analysis, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficients were performed. Nurses had negative attitudes toward death according to age, marital status, years of employment and job title, while spiritual well-being was different according to age, marital status, religion, education, years of engagement in clinical works, department, and job title. The higher subjective health of nurses was, the more positive their attitudes toward death were. The higher subjective heath of nurses was and the more positive their attitudes toward death were, the higher their spiritual well-being was. This study identified the relationship between the attitudes toward death and spiritual well-being and the health status subjectively recognised by nurses, and it is meaningful in that this study prepared basic data for development of an education program for spiritual nursing care or terminal care.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.647-654
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of death education on the attitude toward DNR, fatigue, and quality of sleep for generic care worker. This study followed a nonequivalent control group and a non-synchronized design. This study was performed in a visiting generic care service institution in J city, Chung-Cheong province, Korea between February 15 to May 30, 2016. The study included 43 participants who agreed to participate in this study. They were randomly divided into two groups: 21 participants in the experimental group and 22 in the control group. Participants in the experimental group received death education 2 hours per day, once a week, for a duration of greater than 8 weeks. The effect of treatment was measured using a structured questionnaire on the attitude toward DNR, fatigue, and quality of sleep before and after 8 weeks of intervention. Data were analyzed using t-, chi-square, Fisher Exact- and paired t-tests. The experimental group showed a significantly increased attitude toward DNR (p=0.001) and quality of sleep (P<0.001), whereas significantly decreased attitude toward fatigue (p=0.030) than the control group after 8 weeks of intervention. The death education program was shown to be an effective nursing intervention for generic care workers. Therefore, we can consider the possibility of incorporating death education in the nursing program.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.153-162
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• 2020

The aim of modern medicine is to prolong life by fighting death. Doctors have traditionally believed that this was an ethical good deed. The negative connotation surrounding death has led to the avoidance of terminally ill patients. But in a modern society where death is medicalized, doctors have to see dying patients every day and are in a state of guilt from implementing meaningless life-sustaining treatments. Therefore, medical schools should allow medical students to embrace a new perspective through death education. Yonsei University Medical College has implemented death education since 2017 as an optional class for first and second year medical students. Students watch videos related to death once a week for 6 weeks and submit their reflections by e-mail. The professor reads the students' reflections and gives them weekly feedback. Through this coursework, students realize that death is not a medical event, but rather a part of life and completion. The ultimate purpose of death education is to transform blind life-absolutist identity into narrative identity.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.108-117
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• 2013

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to 1) explore nurses' attitudes toward death, coping with death, understanding and performance regarding end-of-life (EOL) care, 2) describe correlations among the above factors, and 3) determine the factors affecting nurses' EOL care performance. Methods: Study participants were 187 nurses stationed at departments that post higher mortality than others such as the oncology department, intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency department (ED). Data were collected from three urban university-affiliated hospitals. Multi-dimensional measure was performed for study instruments such as "attitude toward death", "coping with death" and "understanding and performance regarding EOL care". Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regressions. Results: First, nurses showed significantly different attitudes toward death by age, religion, work unit and EOL care education. Younger nurses tend to score low on the understanding of EOL care, and ED nurses' score was lower than their peers at the oncology department and ICU. Second, EOL care performance was positively correlated with attitude toward death (P<0.001), coping with death (P=0.003) and understanding of EOL care (P<0.001). Third, nurses' EOL care performance was affected by work unit (P<0.001) and understanding of EOL care (P<0.001). Conclusion: Because nurses' performance was influenced by their work unit and understanding of EOL care, they should be provided with appropriate training to improve their understanding of death and EOL care according to work unit.