A pilot study of death competency amongst health workers in the Uthukela District in Kwazulu-Natal

The aim of this study was to investigate the registered nurses abilities to cope with the death of their clients and to determine if there was any improvement after attending a workshop designed to address this issue.

Using the Coping with Death Scale by Bugen (1980--1981) cited in Neimeyer (1994), respondents' pre-test scores are equal to their post-test scores.

An exploratory survey was used to investigate the registered nurses' death competencies before and after the scheduled workshops. Although these workshops were initially planned for registered nurses, a great variety of health workers (nurses, pharmacists, oral hygienists, physiotherapists and HIV community workers) expressed interest and were thus accommodated in the workshops. Data were collected from the Death Education Workshops held at three sites, and fifty-one respondents completed the questionnaire before the workshop and fifty-six on completion of the workshop. The tool that was used in this research was Bugen's (1980--1981) Coping with Death Scale, cited in Neimeyer (1994). This scale consists of 30 items assessing the participant's sense of competence in handling death and their concrete knowledge concerning preparation for death.

Analysis of the pre and post tests revealed a move from a neutral stance to one where the respondents tended to have a more definite opinion about the statement. This was usually towards agreeing with the statement. Applying the two sampled T-Test to compare the scores of the two related groups (that is the pre-workshop and post-workshop variables), the results yielded were t =0.00, 95% confidence level. Thus there was a significant difference between the two groups, and the null hypothesis is therefore rejected.