Death attitudes and emotional intelligence in nursing students

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Nursing Education
• Emotional Intelligence

Background:

• Death attitudes significantly impact healthcare professionals.
• Emotional intelligence (EI) is crucial for effective patient care.
• Understanding EI and death attitudes in nursing students is vital for curriculum development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between death attitudes and perceived emotional intelligence in nursing students.
• To examine how emotional intelligence and death attitudes differ across academic years.
• To identify predictors of death attitudes among nursing students.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 243 nursing students.
• Anonymous questionnaires assessed fear of death, death anxiety, depression, obsession, and emotional intelligence (attention, clarity, mood repair).
• Statistical analyses included regression to determine predictive relationships and comparisons across academic years.

Main Results:

• Fear of death of others significantly decreased across the 3 years of the nursing program.
• Emotional clarity, a component of emotional intelligence, significantly increased over the academic years.
• Emotional intelligence dimensions (attention, clarity, mood repair) predicted lower fear of death of others.

Conclusions:

• Emotional intelligence skills and death education should be integrated into nursing curricula.
• Developing emotional intelligence may mitigate negative death attitudes in nursing students.
• Early intervention and training can enhance nurses' preparedness for end-of-life care discussions.