Death Anxiety and Its Related Factors among Advanced Nurse Practitioner Candidates: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Aim. To examine death anxiety and its related factors among candidates to become advanced nurse practitioners. Background. Nurses are required to care for dying patients and frequently face death-related issues in clinical practice. Yet, as human beings, it is natural for nurses to feel anxious about their own mortality, which can be incited by witnessing the death of another person. It is evident that a nurse’s death anxiety level may influence how they care for their patients. However, studies to date focus primarily on the death anxiety of patients. Little is known about such experiences among registered nurses, especially those training to be advanced nurse practitioners. Design. This is a quantitative cross-sectional study. Methods. Participants were postgraduate students pursuing their advanced nurse practitioner degree at Nam Dinh University of Nursing, Vietnam. The enrolment criteria included full-time student status and a willingness to participate in the study. Data were collected from 297 participants who completed a self-administered questionnaire during February or March 2022. Death anxiety was measured using Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale. Results. Most advanced nurse practitioner candidates demonstrated a moderate level of death anxiety (109/297; 39.1%). Nearly three in ten (74/297; 26.5%) reported a high level of death anxiety. No statistically significant associations between nurses’ life satisfaction, age, and death anxiety were found. Death anxiety levels did not differ by gender, work position, workplace, or frequency of caring for dying patients ( $p>0.05$ ). Conclusions. There is an identified need to support nurses, especially future nurse clinical leaders, to manage their death anxiety. Professional training programs should offer nurses the opportunity to develop skills necessary to cope with their negative attitude toward death. Further research is recommended to confirm the apparent associations between death anxiety and demographic and psychosocial factors. Those relationships should be examined with appropriate consideration of the contextual and cultural environment in which the study is performed.