Death coping ability, death attitude, and professional quality of life among geriatric nurses: a multicentre...

The ability of geriatric nurses to cope with death affects both their physical and mental health, as well as the quality of the hospice services they provide. The aim of this study was to investigate the death coping ability, death attitude, and professional quality of life of geriatric nurses, analyse the influencing factors of death coping ability, and explore the correlations among them.

A multicentre cross-sectional study design was used and reported according to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist.

From October to November 2024, a convenience sampling method was used to survey 357 geriatric nurses from 9 hospitals in 8 provinces and cities, including Guangdong and Hubei, China, as the research subjects. The general information questionnaire, Coping With Death Scale (CDS), Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R), and Nurse Professional Quality of Life Scale were used for the investigation.

The death coping ability score of the geriatric nurses was 135.23 ± 33.04 points, the total death attitude score was 96.65 ± 21.04 points, and the total raw professional quality of life score was 90.00 ± 11.91 points. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that the death coping ability of geriatric nurses was positively correlated with death attitudes, negatively correlated with secondary trauma and occupational burnout, and positively correlated with compassion satisfaction. Regression analysis revealed that age, frequency of sharing experiences of caring for terminally ill patients with others, participation in death-related courses or training, attitude towards death, and professional quality of life were factors influencing geriatric nurses' ability to cope with death (P < 0.05).

The death coping ability of geriatric nurses is moderate and is related to death attitude and professional quality of life. Nursing managers are encouraged to enhance death education or training for geriatric nurses to help them develop a positive attitude towards death, pay attention to the quality of professional life of geriatric nurses and improve their ability to cope with death.