Nurses attitudes towards death, dying patients and euthanasia: A descriptive study.

PubMed

Ay, Melike Ayça; Öz, Fatma

2018-01-01

Attitudes of nurses towards death and related concepts influence end-of-life care. Determining nurses' views and attitudes towards these concepts and the factors that affect them are necessary to ensure quality end-of-life care. The purpose of this study was to determine nurses' views and attitudes about death, dying patient, euthanasia and the relationships between nurses' characteristics. Participants consist of the nurses who volunteered to take part in this descriptive study from 25 hospitals (n = 340) which has a paediatric or adult intensive care unit and located within the boundaries of Ankara, Turkey. 'Nurse Information Form' and 'Attitude Scale about Euthanasia, Death and Dying Patients (DAS)' were used as data collection tool. Ethical consideration: Written permissions were received from the 'Noninterventional Clinical Researches Ethics Board' of authors' university and education councils of each hospital. Informed consent was obtained from participants. It is found that there are statistically significant difference among the factors of marital status, having a child, years of experience, bereavement experience, affected by working with dying patient, definition of euthanasia, views about patients who are appropriate for euthanasia, views about patients who desire to die and feeling need for counselling on these concepts according to the mean total score of nurses' attitudes about euthanasia, death and dying patient (p < 0.05). The results indicate that nurses are negatively affected to face the concepts of death, euthanasia and work with dying patient. This is reflected in their attitude. In order to gain positive attitude towards death, dying patient and euthanasia, the implementation of training and consulting services to nurses at appropriate intervals during both education and professional life are required.

Death Education and Attitudes of Counselors-in-Training toward Death: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrawood, Laura K.; Doughty, Elizabeth A.; Wilde, Brandon

2011-01-01

This study reviewed how attitudes of counselors-in-training toward death develop after completing a course on death education. Participants included 11 graduate counseling students enrolled in a 2-credit-hour course addressing death and dying, and grief and loss. Qualitative results from a content analysis of free-response narratives suggest the…

Measuring Critical Care Providers' Attitudes About Controlled Donation After Circulatory Death.

PubMed

Rodrigue, James R; Luskin, Richard; Nelson, Helen; Glazier, Alexandra; Henderson, Galen V; Delmonico, Francis L

2018-06-01

Unfavorable attitudes and insufficient knowledge about donation after cardiac death among critical care providers can have important consequences for the appropriate identification of potential donors, consistent implementation of donation after cardiac death policies, and relative strength of support for this type of donation. The lack of reliable and valid assessment measures has hampered research to capture providers' attitudes. Design and Research Aims: Using stakeholder engagement and an iterative process, we developed a questionnaire to measure attitudes of donation after cardiac death in critical care providers (n = 112) and examined its psychometric properties. Exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency, and validity analyses were conducted to examine the measure. A 34-item questionnaire consisting of 4 factors (Personal Comfort, Process Satisfaction, Family Comfort, and System Trust) provided the most parsimonious fit. Internal consistency was acceptable for each of the subscales and the total questionnaire (Cronbach α > .70). A strong association between more favorable attitudes overall and knowledge ( r = .43, P < .001) provides evidence of convergent validity. Multivariable regression analyses showed that white race ( P = .002) and more experience with donation after cardiac death ( P < .001) were significant predictors of more favorable attitudes. Study findings support the utility, reliability, and validity of a questionnaire for measuring attitudes in critical care providers and for isolating targets for additional education on donation after cardiac death.

Attitudes toward Euthanasia as a Function of Death Fears and Demographic Variables.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slezak, Michael E.

1982-01-01

Studied the relationship of attitudes toward euthanasia to death fears and demographic variables in a sample of 100 adults. Found the strongest predictors of euthanasia attitude were age and amount of education. Suggests individuals who are more experienced with life and death have a more positive attitude toward euthanasia. (Author)

ATTITUDES TOWARD SUICIDE: THE EFFECT OF SUICIDE DEATH IN THE FAMILY*

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jie; Jia, Cun-Xian

2011-01-01

There have been few reports on the effect of suicide death on family members’ attitudes toward suicide. In order to estimate the extent to which suicide death affects attitudes toward suicide among family members of suicides, data of 264 informants from a case-control psychological autopsy study were analyzed. The results showed that there were no significant differences in attitudes toward suicide, measured by the General Social Survey’s (GSS) four questions, between informants of suicides and informants of living controls, between family members of suicides and family members of living controls, or between family members of suicides and non-family members of suicides. Our findings did not support the hypothesis that suicide death affects the attitudes toward suicide in suicides’ family members. However, some factors were found to be related to the pro-suicide attitudes measured by the four questions included in the GSS. PMID:20397616

Attitudes toward death criteria and organ donation among healthcare personnel and the general public.

PubMed

DuBois, James M; Anderson, Emily E

2006-03-01

To examine attitudes toward death criteria and their relation to attitudes and behaviors regarding organ donation. This article reviews empirical studies on the attitudes of healthcare personnel and the general public regarding death criteria and organ donation. The review was restricted to studies that had as a primary focus attitudes toward 1 or more of the following 3 specific criteria for determining death: (1) brain death, the irreversible loss of all functions of the entire brain; (2) higher brain death, the loss of cerebral cortex function alone; and (3) the circulatory-respiratory criteria commonly used in donation after cardiac death. Studies consistently show that the general public and some medical personnel are inadequately familiar with the legal and medical status of brain death; attitudes toward the dead donor rule are strong predictors of willingness to donate organs using controversial criteria; concerns about donation after cardiac death surround the withdrawal of life support more than the actual death criteria used; and concerns about death criteria correlate with less favorable attitudes toward organ donation. Both general and ethical education may serve to guide policy and facilitate family member requests and informed consent dialogues. Furthermore, helping families to understand and accept not only medical and legal criteria for determining death, but also ethical criteria for withdrawing life support may help them be more comfortable with their decisions.

The role of religion in death attitudes: distinguishing between religious belief and style of processing religious contents.

PubMed

Dezutter, Jessie; Soenens, Bart; Luyckx, Koen; Bruyneel, Sabrina; Vansteenkiste, Maarten; Duriez, Bart; Hutsebaut, Dirk

2009-01-01

Although it is widely assumed that religiosity plays an important role in individuals' attitudes about death, research to date has failed to reveal consistent associations between religiosity and death attitudes. Drawing from D. M. Wulff's (1991) multidimensional model of religiosity, the authors examined associations between religious attitudes as measured by the Post-Critical Belief Scale and death attitudes as assessed by the Death Attitude Profile--Revised. In total, 471 Dutch-speaking Belgian adults completed both questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to asses the unique contribution of the religious attitudes in the prediction of the death attitudes. First, results show that religious people are more likely to endorse an approach acceptance attitude toward death, indicating that religiosity as such is related to belief in an afterlife. Second, people holding a literal attitude toward religion report more death anxiety, indicating that the processing of religious contents is related to defensiveness toward death. Finally, the specific combination of the two dimensions seems important in the prediction of a neutral acceptance attitude. The relevance of our findings for future research on religiosity and death attitudes is discussed.

Experiences with and attitudes toward death and dying among homeless persons.

PubMed

Song, John; Ratner, Edward R; Bartels, Dianne M; Alderton, Lucy; Hudson, Brenda; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S

2007-04-01

Homeless persons face many barriers to health care, have few resources, and experience high death rates. They live lives of disenfranchisement and neglect. Few studies have explored their experiences and attitudes toward death and dying. Unfortunately, studies done in other populations may not apply to homeless persons. Exploring these experiences and attitudes may provide insight into life, health care, and end-of-life (EOL) concerns of this population. To explore the experiences and attitudes toward death and dying among homeless persons. Qualitative study utilizing focus groups. Fifty-three homeless persons recruited from homeless service agencies. In-depth interviews, which were audiotaped and transcribed. We present seven themes, some of which are previously unreported. Homeless persons described many significant experiences with death and dying, and many participants suffered losses while very young. These encounters influenced participants' attitudes toward risks and risky behavior: e.g., for some, these experiences provided justification for high-risk behaviors and influenced their behaviors while living on the streets. For others, they may be associated with their homelessness. Finally, these experiences informed their attitudes toward death and dying as well as EOL care; homeless persons believe that care will be poor at the EOL. Findings from this study have implications for addressing social services, health promotion, prevention, and EOL care for homeless persons, as well as for others who are poor and disenfranchised.

History of attitudes toward death: a comparative study between Persian and western cultures.

PubMed

Aramesh, Kiarash

2016-01-01

In his seminal book on the historical periods of Western attitudes toward death, Philippe Aries describes four consecutive periods through which these attitudes evolved and transformed. According to him, the historical attitudes of Western cultures have passed through four major parts described above: "Tamed Death," One's Own Death," "Thy Death," and "Forbidden Death." This paper, after exploring this concept through the lens of Persian Poetic Wisdom, concludes that he historical attitudes of Persian-speaking people toward death have generally passed through two major periods. The first period is an amalgamation of Aries' "Tamed Death" and "One's Own Death" periods, and the second period is an amalgamation of Aries' "Thy Death" and "Forbidden Death" periods. This paper explores the main differences and similarities of these two historical trends through a comparative review of the consecutive historical periods of attitudes toward death between the Western and Persian civilizations/cultures. Although both civilizations moved through broadly similar stages, some influential contextual factors have been very influential in shaping noteworthy differences between them. The concepts of after-death judgment and redemption/downfall dichotomy and practices like deathbed rituals and their evolution after enlightenment and modernity are almost common between the above two broad traditions. The chronology of events and some aspects of conceptual evolutions (such as the lack of the account of permanent death of nonbelievers in the Persian tradition) and ritualistic practices (such as the status of the tombs of Shiite Imams and the absolute lack of embalming and wake in the Persian/Shiite culture) are among the differences.

Oncologists' negative attitudes towards expressing emotion over patient death and burnout.

PubMed

Granek, Leeat; Ben-David, Merav; Nakash, Ora; Cohen, Michal; Barbera, Lisa; Ariad, Samuel; Krzyzanowska, Monika K

2017-05-01

The aims of this study were to examine the relationship between negative attitudes towards expressing emotion following patient death and burnout in oncologists and to explore oncologists' preferences for institutional interventions to deal with patient death. The participants included a convenience sample of 177 oncologists from Israel and Canada. Oncologists completed a questionnaire package that included a sociodemographic survey, a burnout measure, a survey assessing negative attitudes towards expressing emotion, and a survey assessing desired interventions to cope with patient death. To examine the association between burnout and negative attitudes while controlling for the effect of sociodemographic variables, a hierarchical linear regression was computed. Higher burnout scores were related to higher negative attitudes towards perceived expressed emotion (partial r = .25, p < .01) of those who viewed this affect as a weakness and as a sign of unprofessionalism. Approximately half of the oncologists found each of the five categories of institutional interventions (pedagogical strategies, emotional support, group/peer support, taking time off, and research and training) helpful in coping with patient death. Our findings suggest that high burnout scores are associated with negative attitudes towards expressing emotion and that there is a wide variation in oncologist preferences in coping with patient death. Institutions should promote interventions that are varied and that focus on the needs of oncologists in order to reduce burnout. Interventions that legitimize expression of emotion about patient death may be useful. Another way to reduce stigma would be to require oncologists to "opt out" rather than "opt in" to accessing a selection of social and/or individual interventions.

Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Death and Dying Among Homeless Persons

PubMed Central

Ratner, Edward R; Bartels, Dianne M.; Alderton, Lucy; Hudson, Brenda; Ahluwalia, Jasjit S.

2007-01-01

Background Homeless persons face many barriers to health care, have few resources, and experience high death rates. They live lives of disenfranchisement and neglect. Few studies have explored their experiences and attitudes toward death and dying. Unfortunately, studies done in other populations may not apply to homeless persons. Exploring these experiences and attitudes may provide insight into life, health care, and end-of-life (EOL) concerns of this population. Objective To explore the experiences and attitudes toward death and dying among homeless persons. Design Qualitative study utilizing focus groups. Participants Fifty-three homeless persons recruited from homeless service agencies. Measurements In-depth interviews, which were audiotaped and transcribed. Results We present seven themes, some of which are previously unreported. Homeless persons described many significant experiences with death and dying, and many participants suffered losses while very young. These encounters influenced participants’ attitudes toward risks and risky behavior: e.g., for some, these experiences provided justification for high-risk behaviors and influenced their behaviors while living on the streets. For others, they may be associated with their homelessness. Finally, these experiences informed their attitudes toward death and dying as well as EOL care; homeless persons believe that care will be poor at the EOL. Conclusions Findings from this study have implications for addressing social services, health promotion, prevention, and EOL care for homeless persons, as well as for others who are poor and disenfranchised. PMID:17372788

Understanding death attitudes: the integration of movies, positive psychology, and meaning management.

PubMed

Niemiec, Ryan M; Schulenberg, Stefan E

2011-01-01

The portrayal of death is one of the most common themes in movies and is often unrealistic, promoting misconceptions to the public. However, there are also many films that portray death acceptance in an instructive way. Such films depict the development of character strengths useful in embracing life and lessening death anxiety, namely zest, curiosity, self-regulation, and humor. Moreover, the role of meaning in films is pivotal for understanding death attitudes. The authors discussed key elements in a number of popular, independent, and international films and emphasized the use of films as an important adjunct for both teachers and clinicians addressing death attitudes with students and clients. A program of death education using movies is briefly discussed.

Death Attitudes and Experiences of Rehabilitation Counselors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bascue, Loy O.; And Others

1978-01-01

A survey of the death attitudes and experiences of 54 rehabilitation counselors indicated their personal beliefs could potentially influence service to disabled people, particularly in the areas of terminal illness and suicide. To balance such influence, continued training of counselors and research efforts concerning this problem are recommended.…

History of attitudes toward death: a comparative study between Persian and western cultures

PubMed Central

Aramesh, Kiarash

2016-01-01

In his seminal book on the historical periods of Western attitudes toward death, Philippe Aries describes four consecutive periods through which these attitudes evolved and transformed. According to him, the historical attitudes of Western cultures have passed through four major parts described above: “Tamed Death,” One’s Own Death,” “Thy Death,” and “Forbidden Death.” This paper, after exploring this concept through the lens of Persian Poetic Wisdom, concludes that he historical attitudes of Persian-speaking people toward death have generally passed through two major periods. The first period is an amalgamation of Aries’ “Tamed Death” and “One’s Own Death” periods, and the second period is an amalgamation of Aries’ “Thy Death” and “Forbidden Death” periods. This paper explores the main differences and similarities of these two historical trends through a comparative review of the consecutive historical periods of attitudes toward death between the Western and Persian civilizations/cultures. Although both civilizations moved through broadly similar stages, some influential contextual factors have been very influential in shaping noteworthy differences between them. The concepts of after-death judgment and redemption/downfall dichotomy and practices like deathbed rituals and their evolution after enlightenment and modernity are almost common between the above two broad traditions. The chronology of events and some aspects of conceptual evolutions (such as the lack of the account of permanent death of nonbelievers in the Persian tradition) and ritualistic practices (such as the status of the tombs of Shiite Imams and the absolute lack of embalming and wake in the Persian/Shiite culture) are among the differences. PMID:28523121

Attitudes toward Stillbirth and Death Threat Level in a Sample of Obstetricians.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirkley-Best, Elizabeth; And Others

1985-01-01

Obstetricians and obstetrical residents (N=70) were polled on their attitudes regarding stillbirth and simultaneously were assessed for their level of death threat as measured by the Threat Index. No effect of death threat level on attitudes toward stillbirth was observed, even when extreme scores were isolated and compared. (Author/NRB)

Relationship between identity and attitude toward death in Japanese senior citizens.

PubMed

Nakagi, Satomi; Tada, Toshiko

2014-01-01

This study aimed to clarify the relationship between identity development stages and attitudes towards death among Japanese senior citizens. The subjects were recruited from among approximately 500 students attending educational courses for senior citizens in Prefecture A. We collected the data by using the questionnaire and interview. The contents of questionnaire were Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory (EPSI) and Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R). In the interview, we represented the four developmental stages, and asked the questions from birth to the present. The collection rate was 85.4% (427 subjects). And 10 subjects participated in the interview. In relation to correlations between the EPSI sub-factors and the DAP-R subscales, there were moderately strong, negative correlations between "Integrity" and "Fear of death" and between "Integrity" and "Avoidance of death". In relation to the subjects' reflections on their lives, the following four categories were extracted: [Trust relationships with others], [Self-confidence regarding my own efforts], [Wanting to contribute to society], and [Let things be as they are]. These results suggested that the accomplishment of "Integrity", which is the developmental task in the maturity stage, leads to the attitude of accepting one's whole life. Further, we have clarified that "Integrity" promotes the acceptance of death.

Facing death alone or together? Investigating the interdependence of death anxiety, dysfunctional attitudes and quality of life in patient-caregiver dyads confronting lung cancer.

PubMed

Lau, Bobo Hi-Po; Wong, Daniel F K; Fung, Y L; Zhou, Jillian; Chan, Cecilia L W; Chow, Amy Y M

2018-05-21

Based on the cognitive theory, anxiety arising from the awareness of death and dying may activate dysfunctional attitudes, which may then reduce quality of life. This study examined the interdependence and the mediating role of dysfunctional attitudes on the relationship between death anxiety and quality of life among patients with lung cancer and their caregivers. From March 2016 to April 2017, 173 pairs of patients and their caregivers enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of psychosocial support. Using the baseline data, actor-partner interdependence modelling was used to analyze the relationships among death anxiety, dysfunctional attitudes and quality of life. In patients, death anxiety was related to dependency (β=.51) and self-control (β=-.37); achievement (β=-.21) and self-control (β=.34) were related to quality of life. Among caregivers, death anxiety was related to all three dysfunctional attitudes of their own (βs=.23 to.32); dependency (β=-.22) was associated with quality of life. Caregiver quality of life were also associated with patient self-control (β=.22) and achievement (β=-.18). Patient self-control mediated the links between patient death anxiety with both patient and caregiver quality of life. The relationship between death anxiety and quality of life was mediated by dependency in caregivers. Death anxiety influences dysfunctional attitudes and quality of life of both patients and caregivers. Our results support the relevance of dysfunctional attitudes in understanding the impact of death anxiety and underscore the need for parallel psychosocial interventions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Attitude of the medical personnel of a pediatrics department towards patient death.

PubMed

Sánchez-Sánchez, Luz María; López-Córdova, Edreí Daniel; Siller-Gómez, Pedro

2018-01-01

Tertiary care hospitals' physicians require high emotional competence, since they are faced with the demands of terminally ill patients and their families. to assess the attitude of physicians of a pediatrics department towards patient death. Pediatrics staff and resident physicians anonymously answered the Attitudes Towards Death (ATD) questionnaire. Absolute frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, Student's t-test and the chi-square test were used. Statistical significance was considered with p < 0.05. The questionnaire was answered by 38 physicians, 26 (68.4%) were residents and 12 (37.6%) staff physicians; 15 (39.4%) were males and 23 (60.6%) females. Four residents (15.4%) had a positive attitude versus 2 staff physicians (16.7%) (p = 0.920). Statistical significance was found in items 1 (69.2% of residents versus 100% of staff physicians, p = 0.03), 16 (23% of residents versus 100% of staff physicians, p = 0.001) and 19 (92.3% of residents versus 58.3% of staff physicians, p = 0.01), corresponding to the avoidance, acceptance and professional perspective dimensions. Less than 20% of pediatric physicians have a positive attitude towards death. Most didn't value death as a passage or transition to a better life, or as a solution to life's problems. Copyright: © 2018 SecretarÍa de Salud.

Understanding the Problems of Death and Dying: A Health Professionals' Attitude Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Joseph S.; And Others

1978-01-01

Attitudes of health practitioners and others toward death and dying and their emotional reactions to dying patients were surveyed both before and after a Veterans Administration workshop. Some attitude changes were noted, with implications for future workshops. (MF)

In the Aftermath: Attitudes of Anesthesiologists to Supportive Strategies After an Unexpected Intraoperative Patient Death.

PubMed

Heard, Gaylene C; Thomas, Rowan D; Sanderson, Penelope M

2016-05-01

Although most anesthesiologists will have 1 catastrophic perioperative event or more during their careers, there has been little research on their attitudes to assistive strategies after the event. There are wide-ranging emotional consequences for anesthesiologists involved in an unexpected intraoperative patient death, particularly if the anesthesiologist made an error. We used a between-groups survey study design to ask whether there are different attitudes to assistive strategies when a hypothetical patient death is caused by a drug error versus not caused by an error. First, we explored attitudes to generalized supportive strategies. Second, we examined our hypothesis that the presence of an error causing the hypothetical patient death would increase the perceived social stigma and self-stigma of help-seeking. Finally, we examined the strategies to assist help-seeking. An anonymous, mailed, self-administered survey was conducted with 1600 consultant anesthesiologists in Australia on the mailing list of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. The participants were randomized into "error" versus "no-error" groups for the hypothetical scenario of patient death due to anaphylaxis. Nonparametric, descriptive, parametric, and inferential tests were used for data analysis. P' is used where P values were corrected for multiple comparisons. There was a usable response rate of 48.9%. When an error had caused the hypothetical patient death, participants were more likely to agree with 4 of the 5 statements about support, including need for time off (P' = 0.003), counseling (P' < 0.001), a formal strategy for assistance (P' < 0.001), and the anesthesiologist not performing further cases that day (P' = 0.047). There were no differences between groups in perceived self-stigma (P = 0.98) or social stigma (P = 0.15) of seeking counseling, whether or not an error had caused the hypothetical patient death. Finally, when an error had caused the patient death

Police Officers' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Brain Death and Organ Donation in Korea.

PubMed

Kim, H S; Yoo, Y S; Cho, O-H; Lee, C E; Choi, Y-H; Kim, H J; Park, J Y; Park, H S; Kwon, Y J

2018-05-01

Administrative processing by the police may affect the process involved in organ donation in the event of an accidental brain injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of police toward brain-dead donors and organ donation. This was a descriptive research study using a 41-item questionnaire. As of July 19, 2017, 11 police stations in Seoul had collected questionnaires completed by 115 police officers. Data were analyzed using SAS (version 9.4) software. There were statistically significant differences in the scores on knowledge about brain death/donation according to religion (P = .022). Attitude was significantly positively correlated with the knowledge about brain-death organ donation (P = .029). It is necessary to understand and cooperate with the police when processing brain death organs from accidents. Education about organ donation can enhance the information and knowledge of the police and can also help to establish a positive attitude about organ donation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"Every soul shall taste death." Attitudes and beliefs of Moroccan muslim women living in Antwerp (Belgium) toward dying, death, and the afterlife.

PubMed

Ahaddour, Chaïma; Broeckaert, Bert; Van den Branden, Stef

2018-02-26

This study aims to elicit the beliefs and attitudes of middle-aged and elderly Moroccan Muslim women toward dying, death, and the afterlife; to identify whether differences are observable between middle-aged and elderly participants and to document how the actual attitudes of our participants relate to normative Islamic literature. Interviews were conducted with middle-aged and elderly Moroccan women living in Belgium (n = 30) and with experts in the field (n = 15). This study reveals that the belief in an omnipotent and omniscient God and in an afterlife strongly marks the attitudes of first- and second-generation Muslims in Belgium toward life and death.

Death Education and Attitudes toward Euthanasia and Terminal Illness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagi, Mostafa H.; Lazerine, Neil G.

1982-01-01

Analyzed attitudes of 614 Protestant and Catholic Cleveland clergy toward terminal illness and euthanasia. Clergy responses revealed that, although eager to prolong life, terminally ill patients feared prolonged illness more than death. The controversial nature of euthanasia became more apparent with clergy who had more training in death…

Time trade-off and attitudes toward euthanasia: implications of using 'death' as an anchor in health state valuation.

PubMed

Augestad, Liv A; Rand-Hendriksen, Kim; Stavem, Knut; Kristiansen, Ivar Sønbø

2013-05-01

Health state values are by convention anchored to 'perfect health' and 'death.' Attitudes toward death may consequently influence the valuations. We used attitudes toward euthanasia (ATE) as a sub-construct for attitudes toward death. We compared the influence on values elicited with time trade-off (TTO), lead-time TTO (LT-TTO) and visual analogue scale (VAS).Since the 'death' anchor is most explicit in TTO, we hypothesized that TTO values would be most influenced by ATE. Respondents valued eight EQ-5D health states with VAS, then TTO (n = 328) or LT-TTO (n = 484). We measured ATE on a scale from -2 (fully disagree) to 2 (fully agree) and used multiple linear regressions to predict VAS, TTO, and LT-TTO values by ATE, sex, age, and education. A one-point increase on the ATE scale predicted a mean TTO value change of -.113 and LT-TTO change of -.072. Demographic variables, but not ATE, predicted VAS values. TTO appears to measure ATE in addition to preferences for health states. Different ways of incorporating death in the valuation may impact substantially on the resulting values. 'Death' is a metaphysically unknown concept, and implications of attitudes toward death should be investigated further to evaluate the appropriateness of using 'death' as an anchor.

Attitudes of elderly Korean patients toward death and dying: an application of Q-methodology.

PubMed

Yeun, Eunja

2005-11-01

The aim of this study was to identify the attitudes of elderly Korean patients toward death and dying using Q-methodology to aid in the development of basic strategies for nursing care of elderly Koreans. Thirty participants at a university hospital sorted 40 selected Q-statements on a nine-point scale. Data analysis identified three types of attitudes toward death and dying in elderly patients in Korea: religion-dependent, science-adherent, and sardonic. Religion-dependent elders are highly dependent upon religion as evidenced by their reply that they would like to rely on God and a minister the most. Science-adherent elders have great affection for life and believe in modern medical advancements. The sardonic elders regard death as the dispensation of nature so there is no need to be afraid of death and dying. This study will contribute to the understanding that nurses and other health professionals have of the perceptions of elderly Koreans about death and dying. Also, the findings may provide the basis for the development of more appropriate strategies to improve death and dying education programs of health professionals.

Attitudes to brain death and organ procurement among university students and critical care physicians in poland.

PubMed

Kubler, A; Lipinska-Gediga, M; Kedziora, J; Kubler, M

2009-06-01

The practice of retrieving vital organs from brain-dead heart-beating donors is legally and medically accepted in Poland, but public beliefs and opinions regarding these matters have not been sufficiently explored. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitude of university students to the concepts of brain death and organ retrieval, compared with the attitude of critical care physicians. The cohorts of 989 students and 139 physicians completed a questionnaire based on a survey instrument developed in an earlier reported study on Ohio residents. Participants assessed 3 scenarios: (1) brain death, (2) coma, and (3) vegetative state. More than 48% of students classified the patient from the brain death scenario as alive, and 51% of them were willing to donate organs of this patient. Ninety percent of students classified the patients in coma and in a vegetative state as alive, but still 34% of them would donate organs of those patients. The group of physicians properly determined the patients' diagnoses, but 10% of them accepted organ procurement from patients in coma and in a vegetative state. Our results supported the earlier observations of low public knowledge and inadequate understanding of brain death criteria and organ procurement processes. The majority of students were willing to accept organ procurement from severely ill but alive patients, in contrast with physicians. A considerable increase in public educational activity in this field is urgently recommended.

Evaluation of life and death studies course on attitudes toward life and death among nursing students.

PubMed

Hwang, Huei-Lih; Lin, Huey-Shyan; Chen, Wen-Tin

2005-12-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate attitudes toward life and death among nursing students after attending the life and death studies (LDS) program. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data. The pretest-posttest control group design randomly assigned students to an experimental (n = 47) or control group (n = 49). The 13-week course included lectures, video appraisal, games, simulations, films, books, assignments and group sharing. Statistical and content analysis were used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The findings showed a significant improvement in perception of the meaningfulness of life in four categories of improvement: expanded viewpoint, sadness about death, treating life sincerely, and instilling hope in life. The qualitative data indicated that a positive change in meaning of life was associated with interaction with others and self-reflection.

Health Care Professionals' Death Attitudes, Experiences, and Advance Directive Communication Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Kathy

2007-01-01

The study surveyed 135 health care professionals (74 nurses, 32 physicians, and 29 social workers) to examine their personal death attitudes and experiences in relation to their reported advance directive communication practice behavior. Negative correlations were found between collaborating with other health care professionals regarding the…

Death and Dying Attitudes, Anxieties, and Fears of Certified Nursing Assistants: A Descriptive Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamilton, Josephine A.

2010-01-01

The critical role of Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) to help elderly nursing home residents' move through declining conditions or diseases to death is salient. It is important for CNAs and nursing home leaders to understand CNAs' attitudes, fears, and anxieties toward death and dying. The quantitative study investigated CNA's…

Effect of end of life education on medical students' and health care workers' death attitude.

PubMed

Hegedus, K; Zana, A; Szabó, G

2008-04-01

One of the goals of education in end of life care is to make communication more open by exploring critical issues related to fear of dying and death in order to reduce anxiety and improve an individual's attitude to dying patients. The aim of our research was to evaluate the effects of courses for health care workers and medical students in care at the end of life. One hundred and twenty-seven health care professionals and 41 undergraduate medical students completed the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS) on the first and last day of the course. The most significant factors of fear of death are: Fear for Significant Others, Fear of the Dying Process and Fear of the Unknown. Overall fear of death scores were reduced as an effect of the courses. Changes in the components and level of fear of death are influenced by the participants' gender, age and profession. Improvement was evident in the attitudes to dying patients in both groups, which was related to an increase in knowledge of high-quality care of dying patients.

Influence of Training on First-Year Nursing Department Students' Attitudes on Death and Caring for Dying Patients: A Single-Group Pretest-Posttest Experimental Study.

PubMed

Cerit, Birgül

2017-01-01

The study examined the influence of training on first-year nursing department students' attitudes on death and caring for dying patients. Utilizing the experimental model, the study sample consisted of 81 first-year students attending the nursing department of a university. Death Attitude Profile-Revised and Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying Scale were used for data collection. Data analysis included means, standard deviation, and t test for related samples. Student attitudes toward death were measured as 146.43 (16.741) and 152.75 (15.132) for pre- and posttraining, respectively. Student attitudes toward caring for dying patients were established to be 103.02 (7.655) during pretraining period and 111.02 (10.359) at posttraining period. The difference between pre- and posttests for mean attitudes toward death and caring for the dying patient was statistically significant. Study results determined that training was effective in forming positive student attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients.

Death attitudes and positive coping in Spanish nursing undergraduates: a cross-sectional and correlational study.

PubMed

Edo-Gual, Montserrat; Monforte-Royo, Cristina; Aradilla-Herrero, Amor; Tomás-Sábado, Joaquín

2015-09-01

To analyse the relationship between death attitudes, emotional intelligence, resilience and self-esteem in a sample of nursing undergraduates. The death attitudes held by nursing students may influence the care they offer to end-of-life patients and their families. Emotional intelligence, resilience and self-esteem are important social and emotional competencies for coping positively with death and dying. Cross-sectional and correlational study. Participants were 760 nursing undergraduates from four nursing schools in Spain. Data were collected in 2013-2014. The students responded anonymously to a self-report questionnaire that gathered socio-demographic data and which assessed the following aspects: fear of death (Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale), death anxiety (Death Anxiety Inventory-Revised), perceived emotional intelligence (Trait Meta-Mood Scale, with its three dimensions: attention, clarity and repair), resilience (Brief Resilient Coping Scale) and self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). In addition to descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, mean differences, correlations and regression analyses were computed. Linear regression analysis indicated that attention to feelings, resilience and self-esteem are the significant predictors of death anxiety. The results show that death anxiety and fear of death are modulated by social and emotional competencies associated with positive coping. The training offered to future nurses should include not only scientific knowledge and technical skills but also strategies for developing social and emotional competencies. In this way, they will be better equipped to cope positively and constructively with the suffering and death they encounter at work, thus helping them to offer compassionate patient-centred care and minimising the distress they experience in the process. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Palliative Care Physicians' Attitudes Toward Patient Autonomy and a Good Death in East Asian Countries.

PubMed

Morita, Tatsuya; Oyama, Yasuhiro; Cheng, Shao-Yi; Suh, Sang-Yeon; Koh, Su Jin; Kim, Hyun Sook; Chiu, Tai-Yuan; Hwang, Shinn-Jang; Shirado, Akemi; Tsuneto, Satoru

2015-08-01

Clarification of the potential differences in end-of-life care among East Asian countries is necessary to provide palliative care that is individualized for each patient. The aim was to explore the differences in attitude toward patient autonomy and a good death among East Asian palliative care physicians. A cross-sectional survey was performed involving palliative care physicians in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. Physicians' attitudes toward patient autonomy and physician-perceived good death were assessed. A total of 505, 207, and 211 responses were obtained from Japanese, Taiwanese, and Korean physicians, respectively. Japanese (82%) and Taiwanese (93%) physicians were significantly more likely to agree that the patient should be informed first of a serious medical condition than Korean physicians (74%). Moreover, 41% and 49% of Korean and Taiwanese physicians agreed that the family should be told first, respectively; whereas 7.4% of Japanese physicians agreed. Physicians' attitudes with respect to patient autonomy were significantly correlated with the country (Japan), male sex, physician specialties of surgery and oncology, longer clinical experience, and physicians having no religion but a specific philosophy. In all 12 components of a good death, there were significant differences by country. Japanese physicians regarded physical comfort and autonomy as significantly more important and regarded preparation, religion, not being a burden to others, receiving maximum treatment, and dying at home as less important. Taiwanese physicians regarded life completion and being free from tubes and machines as significantly more important. Korean physicians regarded being cognitively intact as significantly more important. There are considerable intercountry differences in physicians' attitudes toward autonomy and physician-perceived good death. East Asia is not culturally the same; thus, palliative care should be provided in a culturally acceptable manner for each country

A study on knowledge and attitude toward brain death and organ retrieval among health care professionals in Korea.

PubMed

Jeon, K O; Kim, B N; Kim, H S; Byeon, N-I; Hong, J J; Bae, S H; Son, S Y

2012-05-01

The practice of retrieving vital organs from brain-dead donors is legally and medically accepted in Korea, but health care professionals' beliefs and opinions regarding these matters have not been sufficiently explored. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of health care professionals to the concepts of brain death and organ retrieval. Data were collected using a 41-item questionnaire during a week in June 2011. Sixty-one doctors and 109 nurses from five hospitals with more than 2000 beds in Seoul, Korea, participated in the survey. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 17.0 (SPSS Inc. Chicago, Illinois, USA). There were statistically significant differences in the scores on knowledge according to marital status (P = .001) education level (P = .019), whether the participants were informed about organ donation from a brain-dead donor (P = .002), and the participant's experience managing potential brain-dead patients (P = .037). There were statistically significant differences in the scores on the attitude according to gender (P < .001), age (P < .001), marital status (P < .001), education level (P = .003), job position (P < .001), and the participant's experience referring brain-dead patients to the hospital-based organ procurement organization (P = .001). Significantly, attitude's positively correlated with knowledge about brain-dead organ donation (P < .001). Compared with previous studies, the knowledge and attitudes of health care professionals' regarding brain death and organ retrieval were not improved. There are passive attitudes to brain death and organ retrieval. More research must be performed to promote knowledge and understanding toward brain death and organ retrieval among health care professionals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Study on Nursing Students' Knowledge, Attitude, and Educational Needs for Brain-Death Organ Transplantation and Donation and Intent to Donate Organs.

PubMed

Ju, M K; Sim, M K; Son, S Y

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the knowledge, attitude, educational needs, and will of nursing students on organ donation from brain-dead donors. Data were collected by using a 40-item questionnaire to measure knowledge, attitude, educational needs, and will for organ donation of 215 nursing college students in one university in Dangjin city from May 11 to May 31, 2017. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22 program (Data Solution Inc, Seoul). In the general characteristics, 85.1% of the subjects did not receive education on donation, and 99.5% of the subjects responded that education is needed. The desired methods of education were special lecture in school (55.3%), "webtoons" on the Internet (19.5%), formal curriculum (15.8%). Points to improve to increase brain-death organ transplantation and donation included "active publicity through pan-national campaign activities" (56.3%), "respecting prior consent from brain-dead donors" (21.9%), and "encouragement and increased support for organ donors" (12.1%). There was a significant difference in knowledge according to will for organ donation (t = 3.29, P = .001) and consent to brain-death organ donation in family members (t = 3.29, P = .001). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between attitude and knowledge of the subjects regarding brain-death organ donation. The knowledge, attitude, educational need, and will for organ donation of nursing students revealed in this study will be used as basic data to provide systematic transplant education including contents about organ transplantation in the regular nursing curriculum in the future. It will contribute to the activation of organ donation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Death Anxiety and Voluntary Passive Euthanasia: Influences of Proximity to Death and Experiences with Death in Important Other Persons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devins, Gerald M.

1979-01-01

Identified five sources of death anxiety. Significant relationships were observed between each source and experimental factors. The relationship between death anxiety and attitude toward voluntary passive euthanasia was explored, and a significant correlation was noted among elderly persons. Results were consistent with an idiographic orientation…

Medical Students' Death Anxiety: Severity and Association With Psychological Health and Attitudes Toward Palliative Care.

PubMed

Thiemann, Pia; Quince, Thelma; Benson, John; Wood, Diana; Barclay, Stephen

2015-09-01

Death anxiety (DA) is related to awareness of the reality of dying and death and can be negatively related to a person's psychological health. Physicians' DA also may influence their care for patients approaching death. Doctors face death in a professional context for the first time at medical school, but knowledge about DA among medical students is limited. This study examined medical students' DA in relation to: 1) its severity, gender differences, and trajectory during medical education and 2) its associations with students' attitudes toward palliative care and their psychological health. Four cohorts of core science and four cohorts of clinical students at the University of Cambridge Medical School took part in a questionnaire survey with longitudinal follow-up. Students who provided data on the revised Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale were included in the analysis (n = 790). Medical students' DA was moderate, with no gender differences and remained very stable over time. High DA was associated with higher depression and anxiety levels and greater concerns about the personal impact of providing palliative care. The associations between high DA and lower psychological health and negative attitudes toward palliative care are concerning. It is important to address DA during medical education to enhance student's psychological health and the quality of their future palliative care provision. Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multi-Ethnic Attitudes Toward Physician-Assisted Death in California and Hawaii.

PubMed

Periyakoil, Vyjeyanthi S; Kraemer, Helena; Neri, Eric

2016-10-01

As aid-in-dying laws are gaining more public acceptance and support, it is important to understand diverse perceptions toward physician-assisted death (PAD). We compare attitudes of residents from California and Hawaii to identify variables that may predict attitudes toward PAD. A cross-sectional online survey of 1095 participants (a 75.8% survey completion rate) from California and 819 from Hawaii (a 78.4% survey completion rate). Data were collected between July through October 2015. Majority of study participants in California (72.5%) and Hawaii (76.5%) were supportive of PAD. Only 36.8% of participants in Hawaii and 34.8% of participants in California reported completing advance directives. To better understand which subgroups were most in favor of PAD, data were analyzed using both recursive partitioning and stepwise logistic regression. Older participants were more supportive of PAD in both states. Also, all ethnic groups were equally supportive of PAD. Completion of advance directives was not a significant predictor of attitudes toward PAD. Persons who reported that faith/religion/spirituality was less important to them were more likely to support PAD in both states. Thus, the major influences on the attitudes to PAD were religious/spiritual views and age, not ethnicity and gender. Even in the subgroups least supportive of PAD, the majority supported PAD. This study shows that in the ethnically diverse states of California and Hawaii, faith/religion/spirituality and age are major influencers of attitudes toward PAD and not ethnicity and gender. Even in the subgroups least supportive of PAD, the majority supports PAD.

Relationships between personal attitudes about death and communication with terminally ill patients: How oncology clinicians grapple with mortality.

PubMed

Rodenbach, Rachel A; Rodenbach, Kyle E; Tejani, Mohamedtaki A; Epstein, Ronald M

2016-03-01

Clinician discomfort with death may affect care of patients but has not been well-studied. This study explores oncology clinicians' attitudes surrounding their own death and how these attitudes both affect and are affected by their care of dying patients and their communication with them. Qualitative interviews with physicians (n=25), nurse practitioners (n=7), and physician assistants (n=1) in medical or hematologic oncology clinical practices about communication styles, care of terminally ill patients, and personal perspectives about mortality. Clinicians described three communication styles used with patients about death and dying: direct, indirect, or selectively direct. Most reported an acceptance of their mortality that was "conditional," meaning that that they could not fully know how they would respond if actually terminally ill. For many clinicians, caring for dying patients affected their outlook on life and death, and their own perspectives on life and death affected their approach to caring for dying patients. An awareness of personal mortality may help clinicians to discuss death more openly with patients and to provide better care. Efforts to promote self-awareness and communication training are key to facilitating clear communication with and compassionate care of terminally ill patients. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-Ethnic Attitudes Toward Physician-Assisted Death in California and Hawaii

PubMed Central

Kraemer, Helena; Neri, Eric

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: As aid-in-dying laws are gaining more public acceptance and support, it is important to understand diverse perceptions toward physician-assisted death (PAD). We compare attitudes of residents from California and Hawaii to identify variables that may predict attitudes toward PAD. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 1095 participants (a 75.8% survey completion rate) from California and 819 from Hawaii (a 78.4% survey completion rate). Data were collected between July through October 2015. Results: Majority of study participants in California (72.5%) and Hawaii (76.5%) were supportive of PAD. Only 36.8% of participants in Hawaii and 34.8% of participants in California reported completing advance directives. To better understand which subgroups were most in favor of PAD, data were analyzed using both recursive partitioning and stepwise logistic regression. Older participants were more supportive of PAD in both states. Also, all ethnic groups were equally supportive of PAD. Completion of advance directives was not a significant predictor of attitudes toward PAD. Persons who reported that faith/religion/spirituality was less important to them were more likely to support PAD in both states. Thus, the major influences on the attitudes to PAD were religious/spiritual views and age, not ethnicity and gender. Even in the subgroups least supportive of PAD, the majority supported PAD. Conclusions: This study shows that in the ethnically diverse states of California and Hawaii, faith/religion/spirituality and age are major influencers of attitudes toward PAD and not ethnicity and gender. Even in the subgroups least supportive of PAD, the majority supports PAD. PMID:27276445

Sibling death and death fear in relation to depressive symptomatology in older adults.

PubMed

Cicirelli, Victor G

2009-01-01

Previously overlooked factors in elders' depressive symptomatology were examined, including death fear, sibling death, and sibling closeness. Participants were 150 elders (61 men, 89 women) aged 65-97 years with at least one sibling. Measures were proportion of deceased siblings, sibling closeness, the Death Fear Subscale of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (20-item adult form). Age and education were exogenous variables in a structural equation model. Death fear, sibling closeness, and proportion of dead siblings were directly related to depression, with path coefficients of .42, -.24, and .13, respectively. Proportion of dead siblings had indirect effects on depression, as did age and education. Depressive symptomatology in old age is influenced by death fear related to sibling death as well as by poor relationships with them; it must be understood within a situational context including death fear and sibling relationships.

Attitudes of Children towards Aging, the Elderly, and Death & Dying as Expressed through the Arts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaki, Gamal; Zaki, Sylvia

The purpose of this study was to explore the conceptions, feelings and attitudes of elementary and junior high school students toward the topics of aging, the elderly, death, and dying. To gather data, an announcement was made to all schools within the state that the Rhode Island Gerontology Center would sponsor a contest for all school children…

Attitudes toward clinical autopsy in unexpected patient deaths in Japan: a nation-wide survey of the general public and physicians.

PubMed

Kamishiraki, Etsuko; Maeda, Shoichi; Starkey, Jay; Ikeda, Noriaki

2012-12-01

Autopsy is a useful tool for understanding the cause and manner of unexpected patient death. However, the attitudes of the general public and physicians in Japan about clinical autopsy are limited. To describe the beliefs of the general public about whether autopsy should be performed and ascertain if they would actually request one given specific clinical situations where patient death occurred with the additional variable of medical error. To compare these attitudes with previously obtained attitudes of physicians practising at Japanese teaching hospitals. We conducted a cross-sectional study of the general public. We sent standardised questionnaires in 2010 to a randomly selected non-physician adult population using a survey company for participant selection. Respondents gave their opinions about the necessity of autopsy and how they might act given various clinical scenarios of patient death. We compared these results with those of a previous survey of Japanese physicians conducted in 2009. Of the 2300 eligible general adult population, 1575 (68.5%) responded. The majority of the general public indicated they believed an autopsy was necessary. However, in cases of unclear medical error or unclear cause and effect relationship of medical care and patient death, the general public were much less likely to indicate they would actually request an autopsy than were physicians (p<0.0001). Currently in Japan the debate about the role autopsy should play in the case of error related to death is underway. The results from this study will be important in informing related decisions.

Effects of phased education on attitudes toward organ donation and willingness to donate after brain death in an Asian country.

PubMed

Park, Ui Jun; Han, Sang Youb; Han, Kum Hyun; Oh, Se Won; Jang, Hye-Yeon; Kim, Hyoung Tae; Roh, Young-Nam

2018-05-23

This study aims to investigate the effects of phased education on attitudes toward organ donation and willingness to donate after brain death. A survey was conducted using a questionnaire to examine attitudes toward organ donation of the families of patients admitted to a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) between March 1, 2014 and September 30, 2016. Ninety-two people voluntarily participated in this survey. Before reviewing the educational material, 75.0% had a positive attitude toward organ donation, 60.9% were willing to donate their own organs, and 38.0% were willing to donate a family member's organs. After reviewing the educational material, these figures increased to 92.4%, 80.4%, and 56.5%, respectively. Before receiving an education, there was a significant difference in consistency between people's attitudes and willingness to donate their own organs, versus donating a family member's organs (79.3% vs 54.3%, p < 0.001). With phased education, these percentages increased from 79.3% to 85.9% with regard to donating one's own organs, and from 54.3% to 64.1% with regard to donating a family member's organs. Phased education was effective overall, but it had a limited effect on changing the willingness to donate a family member's organs. It increased the consistency between people's attitudes toward organ donation and willingness to donate their own, or a family member's organs. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Taiwan.

Attitudes of Chinese Oncology Physicians Toward Death with Dignity.

PubMed

Chen, Hui-Ping; Huang, Bo-Yan; Yi, Ting-Wu; Deng, Yao-Tiao; Liu, Jie; Zhang, Jie; Wang, Yu-Qing; Zhang, Zong-Yan; Jiang, Yu

2016-08-01

Death with dignity (DWD) refers to the refusal of life-prolonging measures for terminally ill patients by "living wills" forms in advance. More and more oncology physicians are receiving DWD requests from advance cancer patients in mainland China. The study objective was to investigate the attitudes of Chinese oncology physicians toward the legalization and implementation of DWD. A questionnaire investigating the understanding and attitudes toward DWD was administered to 257 oncology physicians from 11 hospitals in mainland China. The effective response rate was 86.8% (223/257). The majority of oncology physicians (69.1%) had received DWD requests from patients. Half of the participants (52.5%) thought that the most important reason was the patients' unwillingness to maintain survival through machines. One-third of participants (33.0%) attributed the most important reason to suffering from painful symptoms. Most oncology physicians (78.9%) had knowledge about DWD. A fifth of respondents did not know the difference between DWD and euthanasia, and a few even considered DWD as euthanasia. The majority of oncology physicians supported the legalization (88.3%) and implementation (83.9%) of DWD. Many Chinese oncology physicians have received advanced cancer patients' DWD requests and think that DWD should be legalized and implemented. Chinese health management departments should consider the demands of physicians and patients. It is important to inform physicians about the difference between DWD and euthanasia, as one-fifth of them were confused about it.

Attitudes of Chinese Oncology Physicians Toward Death with Dignity

PubMed Central

Chen, Hui-ping; Huang, Bo-yan; Yi, Ting-wu; Deng, Yao-Tiao; Liu, Jie; Zhang, Jie; Wang, Yu-qing; Zhang, Zong-yan

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Death with dignity (DWD) refers to the refusal of life-prolonging measures for terminally ill patients by “living wills” forms in advance. More and more oncology physicians are receiving DWD requests from advance cancer patients in mainland China. Objective: The study objective was to investigate the attitudes of Chinese oncology physicians toward the legalization and implementation of DWD. Methods: A questionnaire investigating the understanding and attitudes toward DWD was administered to 257 oncology physicians from 11 hospitals in mainland China. Results: The effective response rate was 86.8% (223/257). The majority of oncology physicians (69.1%) had received DWD requests from patients. Half of the participants (52.5%) thought that the most important reason was the patients' unwillingness to maintain survival through machines. One-third of participants (33.0%) attributed the most important reason to suffering from painful symptoms. Most oncology physicians (78.9%) had knowledge about DWD. A fifth of respondents did not know the difference between DWD and euthanasia, and a few even considered DWD as euthanasia. The majority of oncology physicians supported the legalization (88.3%) and implementation (83.9%) of DWD. Conclusions: Many Chinese oncology physicians have received advanced cancer patients' DWD requests and think that DWD should be legalized and implemented. Chinese health management departments should consider the demands of physicians and patients. It is important to inform physicians about the difference between DWD and euthanasia, as one-fifth of them were confused about it. PMID:27022774

Survey of the Knowledge of Brainstem Death and Attitude Toward Organ Donation Among Relations of Neurosurgical Patients in Nigeria.

PubMed

Rabiu, T B; Oshola, H A; Adebayo, B O

2016-01-01

Organ transplantation is a developing field in Nigeria, and availability of organs for donation would be a determining factor of the success of the transplant programs. Patients with brainstem death (BSD) are a major source of organs for transplantation. The level of knowledge of BSD as well as attitudes toward organ donation are very important determinants of people's willingness or otherwise to donate organs. We conducted a survey of relations of our in-service neurosurgical patients to assess their knowledge of brainstem death and attitude toward organ donation. To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind among the growing Nigerian neurosurgery patient and patient-relations population. Convenience sampling of randomly selected relations of neurosurgical patients on admission using interviewer-administered questionnaires was performed. Demographic information and information about brainstem death, attitude toward brainstem death, knowledge of organ donation, and attitude toward organ donation were obtained. The study comprised 127 respondents with a mean age of 36 years (range, 19-72). The majority of the respondents (87, 62.4%) were Christians, 122 (96.1%) were Yorubas, and 66 (52.0%) were women. Eighty-five (66.9%) of the respondents had at least a secondary level of education, and 77 (60.6%) were of low socioeconomic status. Twenty-eight (22.2%) of the respondents had heard of brainstem death. Twenty-six (92.9%) of those who had heard of brainstem death believed that the brain could die long before life finally ceases. One hundred twenty-five (98.4%) of the respondents believed that death only occurs when both breathing and heartbeat stop, and 107 (83.6%) would agree with the physician on a diagnosis of brainstem death in the relation. Sixty-five (51.2%) would want such patients put on a ventilator, and, of these, 43 (66.2%) would want such patients on the ventilator in hope that he or she may recover. One hundred twelve (88.2%) of the relations were

Death qualification and prejudice: the effect of implicit racism, sexism, and homophobia on capital defendants' right to due process.

PubMed

Butler, Brooke

2007-01-01

Two hundred venirepersons from the 12th Judicial Circuit in Bradenton, Florida completed the following measures: (1) one question that measured their level of support for the death penalty; (2) one question that categorized their death-qualification status; (3) 23 questions that measured their attitudes toward the death penalty (ATDP); (4) 22 questions that assessed their attitudes toward women (ATW); (5) 25 questions that measured their level of homophobia (H); (6) seven questions that assessed their level of modern racism (MR); (7) eight questions that measured their level of modern sexism (MS); and (8) standard demographic questions. Results indicated that as death-penalty support increased participants exhibited more positive attitudes toward the death penalty, more negative attitudes toward women, and higher levels of homophobia, modern racism, and modern sexism. Findings also suggested that death-qualified venirepersons exhibited more positive attitudes toward the death penalty and higher levels of homophobia, modern racism, and modern sexism. Finally, more positive attitudes toward the death penalty were correlated with more negative attitudes toward women and higher levels of homophobia, modern racism, and modern sexism. Legal implications are discussed. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The contribution of a MOOC to community discussions around death and dying.

PubMed

Tieman, Jennifer; Miller-Lewis, Lauren; Rawlings, Deb; Parker, Deborah; Sanderson, Christine

2018-02-20

Advances in medicine have helped many to live longer lives and to be able to meet health challenges. However death rates are anticipated to increase given the ageing population and chronic disease progression. Being able to talk about death is seen to be important in normalising death as part of life and supporting preparedness for death. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide opportunities for the community to engage in collaborative learning. A 5 week MOOC was developed covering four main topics (language and humour, representations of death, medicalisation of dying, and digital dying) aiming: To enable participants to openly and supportively discuss and learn about issues around living, death and dying, To explore the normally unheard opinions and views of Australians around death and dying, and To determine what effect online learning and discussions offered through the MOOC had on participants' feelings and attitudes towards death and dying. Data was captured on engagement rates in the various MOOC activities. Death Attitudes were measured by five items representing the MOOC's learning objectives and completed at enrolment and conclusion. MOOC Satisfaction was measured with six items at the end of the MOOC. Descriptive statistics were produced for each variable and Chi-Square Tests of Independence assessed the extent of the relationship between categorical variables. Socio-demographic variables were examined as predictors of the outcome variables of MOOC engagement, MOOC satisfaction, and death attitudes. Ethical approval was received from Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee (Project No. 7247). One thousand one hundred fifty six people enrolled in the Dying2Learn MOOC with 895 participating in some way. Enrolees were primarily female (92.1%). Age ranged from 16 to 84 (mean = 49.5, SD = 12.3). MOOC satisfaction scores were high. Responses to the experience of participating in the MOOC were very positive, with mean

National evaluation of healthcare provider attitudes toward organ donation after cardiac death.

PubMed

Mandell, M Susan; Zamudio, Stacy; Seem, Debbie; McGaw, Lin J; Wood, Geri; Liehr, Patricia; Ethier, Angela; D'Alessandro, Anthony M

2006-12-01

Organ donation after cardiac death will save lives by increasing the number of transplantable organs. But many healthcare providers are reluctant to participate when the withdrawal of intensive care leads to organ donation. Prior surveys indicate ethical concerns as a barrier to the practice of organ donation after cardiac death, but the specific issues that characterize these concerns are unknown. We thus aimed to identify what barriers healthcare providers perceive. We conducted a qualitative analysis of focus group transcripts to identify issues of broad importance. Healthcare setting. Participants included 141 healthcare providers representing critical care and perioperative nurses, transplant surgeons, medical examiners, organ procurement personnel, neurosurgeons, and neurologists. Collection and analysis of information regarding healthcare providers' attitudes and beliefs. All focus groups agreed that increased organ availability is a benefit but questioned the quality of organs recovered. Study participants identified a lack of standards for patient prognostication and cardiopulmonary death and a failure to prevent a conflict between patient and donor interests as obstacles to acceptance of organ donation after cardiac death. They questioned the practices and motives of colleagues who participate in organ donation after cardiac death, apprehensive that real or perceived impropriety would affect public perception. Healthcare providers are uncomfortable at the clinical juncture where end-of-life care and organ donation interface. Our findings are consistent with theories that care providers are hesitant to perform medical tasks that they consider to be outside the focus of their practice, especially when there is potential conflict of interest. This conflict appears to impose moral distress on healthcare providers and limits acceptance of organ donation after cardiac death. Future research is warranted to examine the effect of standardized procedures on

Mothers' knowledge and attitudes to sudden infant death syndrome risk reduction messages: results from a UK survey.

PubMed

Pease, Anna S; Blair, Peter S; Ingram, Jenny; Fleming, Peter J

2018-01-01

To investigate mothers' knowledge of reducing the risks for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and attitudes towards safer sleep practices. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in deprived areas of Bristol, UK. Recruitment took place in 2014 at local health visitor-led baby clinics. Of 432 mothers approached, 400 (93%) completed the face-to-face survey. Participants with infants at 'higher' risk of SIDS (using an algorithm based on a previous observational study) were compared with those at 'lower' risk. The survey asked participants to recall three SIDS risk reduction strategies (unprompted), and scored responses to 14 SIDS risk-related infant sleep scenarios (prompted). Overall, 48/400 (12%) mothers were classified as higher risk. Mothers in the higher risk group were less likely to breast feed (multivariate OR=3.59(95% CI 1.46 to 8.86)), less likely to be able to cite two or more unprompted correct SIDS risk reduction strategies (multivariate OR=2.05(95% CI 1.02 to 4.13)) and scored lower on prompted safer sleep scenarios overall.Notably, only 206/400 (52%) of all mothers surveyed (33% in the higher risk group) from these deprived areas in Bristol identified infant sleep position as a risk reduction strategy for SIDS, despite 25 years of campaigns. Mothers in the higher risk group were disadvantaged when it came to some aspects of knowledge of SIDS risk reduction and attitudes to safer sleep. The initial 'Back-to Sleep' message that dramatically reduced these deaths a generation ago needs more effective promotion for today's generation of mothers. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Good death and bad death in ancient Israel according to biblical lore.

PubMed

Spronk, Klaas

2004-03-01

In the view of the ancient Israelites, as expressed in the Hebrew Bible, death is good or at least acceptable (1) after a long life, (2) when a person dies in peace, (3) when there is continuity in the relation with the ancestors and the heirs, and (4) when one will be buried in one's own land. Death is experienced as bad when (1) it is premature, (2) violent, especially when it is shameful (e.g., when a man is killed by a woman), (3) when a person does not have an heir, and (4) when one does not receive a proper burial. It is remarkable that in the literature of ancient Israel common elements like the cult of the dead and the belief in retribution after death, are not explicitly mentioned and therefore do not function as a comfort for death. Also, from a theological point of view emphasis is placed on this life. A positive attitude towards martyrdom is missing. This results in a way of coping with death which has many 'modern' elements or which may help modern people to face death.

Religious and Nonreligious Spirituality in Relation to Death Acceptance or Rejection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cicirelli, Victor G.

2011-01-01

Meanings of religious and nonreligious spirituality are explored, with implications for death acceptance, death rejection, and life extension. In the first of two exploratory studies, 16 elders low on intrinsic religiosity were compared with 116 elders high in religiosity; they differed both in qualitative responses and on death attitudes. In the…

Religious characteristics and the death penalty.

PubMed

Miller, Monica K; Hayward, R David

2008-04-01

Using one mock trial scenario, this study investigated whether religious and demographic factors were related to death penalty attitudes and sentencing verdicts. Those who favored the death penalty differed from those who had doubts about the penalty in gender, affiliation, fundamentalism, evangelism, literal Biblical interpretism, beliefs about God's attitudes toward murders, and perceptions of how their religious groups felt about the death penalty. These relationships generally held after mock jurors were death qualified. Gender, fundamentalism, literal interpretism, beliefs about God's death penalty position, and perceptions of how one's religious group felt about the death penalty predicted death penalty sentencing verdicts. Future research could determine whether using peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors based on religion can help lawyers choose a more favorable jury.

Ambitions fulfilled? The effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal attainment on older adults' ego-integrity and death attitudes.

PubMed

Van Hiel, Alain; Vansteenkiste, Maarten

2009-01-01

The present research examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal attainment on older adults' ego-integrity, psychological well-being, and death attitudes. Hypotheses were derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Vansteenkiste, Ryan, & Deci, in press). Study 1 (N = 202, Mean age = 68.2 years) indicated that, after controlling for extrinsic goal attainment, intrinsic goal attainment contributed positively to subjective well-being and ego-integrity and negatively to despair, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was unrelated to psychological health and contributed positively to despair. Study 2 (N = 213, Mean age = 75.2 years) replicated and extended these results, showing that intrinsic goal attainment contributed to the acceptance of one's own death, lower ill-being, and less death anxiety, whereas extrinsic goal attainment was negatively associated with death acceptance. It is argued that the attainment of intrinsic goals is related to better psychological health, because intrinsic goals are more conducive to the satisfaction of basic psychological needs.

Death and Society in Twentieth Century America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fulton, Robert; Owen, Greg

1988-01-01

Discusses how American experiences with death have changed since 1900 and shows how changes have served to transform attitudes and responses toward death. Compares individuals born prior to advent of atomic bomb to those born in nuclear age, and considers pervasive influence of television and other media in changing attitudes. (Author/NB)

Contending With Preplanned Death: Questions for Clinicians.

PubMed

Yager, Joel

2017-09-01

The goal of this column is to assist readers in reflecting on their attitudes and responses toward clinical and nonclinical situations involving preplanned deaths by decisionally capable individuals. Such circumstances range from encountering individuals in one's personal and professional lives who desire and intend to end their lives under their own terms, to having such individuals request assistance with predeath and postdeath arrangements. Attending to pertinent literature, this essay uses Socratic inquiry to question conventional assumptions and attitudes, push readers' thoughts beyond typical comfort zones, and consider alternative modes of responding to challenges posed by preplanned death. Studies indicate that, for their own end-of-life circumstances, physicians would prefer a briefer, higher quality life to prolonged low-quality life, dignity in infirmity and death, and avoidance of terminal suffering. Lay people generally endorse similar preferences. Although contemporary society generally shuns contemplating preplanned death, cultural attitudes regarding preplanned death are rapidly evolving, and variations of "Death with Dignity" legislation have gained traction in increasing numbers of US states as well as internationally. As yet, no broad consensus exists as to how clinicians should manage circumstances involving preplanned death. Considerations regarding preplanned deaths merit greater professional and public discussion. Many options exist for improving how professionals address the quality of human experiences surrounding death.

Attitudes and Experiences of Death Workshop Attendees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth; Worden, J. William

1977-01-01

Attendees at workshops and lectures were asked to complete a questionnaire which assessed the following: 1) First death experience, 2) Present conceptualization of death, 3) Anticipated reactions to a personal terminal illness, 4) Resources in managing one's own death, and 5) Difficulties experienced in working with dying persons. (Author)

Factor Analysis of the Omega Scale: A Scale Designed To Measure the Attitudes of College Students toward Their Own Deaths and the Disposition of Their Bodies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staik, Irene M.

A study was undertaken to provide a factor analysis of the Omega Scale, a 25-item, Likert-type scale developed in 1984 to assess attitudes toward death and funerals and other body disposition practices. The Omega Scale was administered to 250 students enrolled in introductory psychology classes at two higher education institutions in Alabama.…

Ambitions Fulfilled? The Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goal Attainment on Older Adults' Ego-Integrity and Death Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Hiel, Alain; Vansteenkiste, Maarten

2009-01-01

The present research examined the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic goal attainment on older adults' ego-integrity, psychological well-being, and death attitudes. Hypotheses were derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Vansteenkiste, Ryan, & Deci, in press). Study 1 (N = 202, Mean age = 68.2 years) indicated that, after…

Listening to Stories May Change Children's Social Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berg-Cross, Gary; Berg-Cross, Linda

1978-01-01

Children who listened to "William's Doll,""Giving Tree,""Bread and Jam for Frances," and "My Grandson Lew," changed their attitudes in the respective areas of sex role stereotyping, friendship, death, and risk taking. (MKM)

Student Attitudes to Whole Body Donation Are Influenced by Dissection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cahill, Kevin C.; Ettarh, Raj R.

2008-01-01

Given the important role that anatomical dissection plays in the shaping of medical student attitudes to life and death, these attitudes have not been evaluated in the context of whole body donation for medical science. First year students of anatomy in an Irish university medical school were surveyed by questionnaire before and after the initial…

Examination of psychological variables related to nuclear attitudes and nuclear activism

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roy, P.J.

1985-01-01

It was hypothesized that knowledge about nuclear arms developments would not be correlated with nuclear attitudes, that sense of efficacy would be positively correlated with magnitude of nuclear activism, and that death anxiety would be correlated with high level of nuclear knowledge and anti-nuclear attitudes, but not with sense of power. It was also hypothesized that positive correlations would be found between nuclear activism and political activism, knowledge of nuclear facts, and degree of adherence to anti-nuclear attitudes. One hundred and forty three women and 90 men participated in this questionnaire study. Major findings are as follows. In general, themore » more people knew about nuclear developments, the more anti-nuclear were their attitudes. Also, regardless of nuclear attitudes, a positive correlation was found between knowledge of nuclear facts and nuclear activism. Death anxiety and powerlessness were not correlated. There was a positive correlation between anxiety and both nuclear knowledge and anti-nuclear attitudes. A strong positive correlation was found between nuclear activism and anti-nuclear attitudes, and between political activism and nuclear activism. Internal locus of control did not correlate significantly with high sense of power or with high degree of nuclear activism.« less

Early European attitudes towards "good death": Eugenios Voulgaris, Treatise on euthanasia, St Petersburg, 1804.

PubMed

Galanakis, E; Dimoliatis, I D K

2007-06-01

Eugenios Voulgaris (Corfu, Greece, 1716; St Petersburg, Russia, 1806) was an eminent theologian and scholar, and bishop of Kherson, Ukraine. He copiously wrote treatises in theology, philosophy and sciences, greatly influenced the development of modern Greek thought, and contributed to the perception of Western thought throughout the Eastern Christian world. In his Treatise on euthanasia (1804), Voulgaris tried to moderate the fear of death by exalting the power of faith and trust in the divine providence, and by presenting death as a universal necessity, a curative physician and a safe harbour. Voulgaris presented his views in the form of a consoling sermon, abundantly enriched with references to classical texts, the Bible and the Church Fathers, as well as to secular sources, including vital statistics from his contemporary England and France. Besides euthanasia, he introduced terms such as dysthanasia, etoimothanasia and prothanasia. The Treatise on euthanasia is one of the first books, if not the very first, devoted to euthanasia in modern European thought and a remarkable text for the study of the very early European attitudes towards "good death". In the Treatise, euthanasia is clearly meant as a spiritual preparation and reconciliation with dying rather than a physician-related mercy killing, as the term progressed to mean during the 19th and the 20th centuries. This early text is worthy of study not only for the historian of medical ethics or of religious ethics, but for everybody who is trying to courageously confront death, either in private or in professional settings.

Knowledge and attitudes of nurses on a regional neurological intensive therapy unit towards brain stem death and organ donation.

PubMed

Davies, C

1997-01-01

The study aimed to explore nurses knowledge and attitudes towards brain stem death and organ donation. An ex post facto research design was used to determine relationships between variables. A 16 item questionnaire was used to collect data. Statistical analysis revealed one significant result. The limitations of the sample size is acknowledged and the conclusion suggests a larger study is required.

The Management of Death in the Middle Class American Family.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clay, Vidal S.

Starting with the observation that attitudes towards death cannot be divorced from attitudes towards life, the author proceeds with a critical and reflective look at American society's poor management of death, both in terms of the dying person and the bereaved. Denial is the mechanism used to protect ourselves from facing the fact of death, and…

Quality insights of university teachers on dying, death, and death education.

PubMed

Mak, Mui-Hing June

One of the main responsibilities of teachers is to help individual students cope with life difficulties such as grief following a death. However, very little research explores teachers' views on death, dying, and how they handle grief and loss in schools. This study aims to explore university teachers' knowledge and attitudes on dying, death, and death education. Fifteen university teachers were recruited using a qualitative method. This study reveals that most teachers' views on death and related issues are largely affected by their death experiences, religious beliefs, professional background, and the mass media. Although they have a general negative response toward death and dying, some teachers begin to affirm their meanings of life and death. Most teachers agree that they do not feel adequate about managing and teaching on life and death issues, so they strongly support including death education in the formal programs in Hong Kong.

Reproductive Decision Making and Genetic Predisposition to Sudden Cardiac Death

PubMed Central

Barlevy, Dorit; Wasserman, David; Stolerman, Marina; Erskine, Kathleen E.; Dolan, Siobhan M.

2012-01-01

Background With current genetic technology, it is possible to detect mutations associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS), a hereditary cardiac arrhythmia syndrome. As a result, prospective parents diagnosed with LQTS will have to decide whether or not to prevent its transmission to future generations, either by not procreating or through the use of assisted reproductive technologies or prenatal testing. This paper explores how a hereditary predisposition to sudden cardiac death can influence reproductive decision making. Methods This study draws from interviews and focus groups with individuals who have personal or family histories of cardiac arrhythmia or sudden death. A keyword search was conducted on interview transcripts to identify quotes for analysis. Results Participants expressed complex, often ambivalent attitudes about the prospect of having a child with a predisposition to sudden cardiac death. Their comments reveal conflicting understandings of genetic responsibility and reflect the variable effects of personal experience on reproductive decision making. This paper compares attitudes towards LQTS and other genetic conditions in analyzing the themes that emerged in interviews and focus groups. Conclusions The “disability critique” of prenatal testing should be applied carefully to a context of genetic predisposition to sudden cardiac death in order to understand reproductive decision making. Firsthand experience with the condition, among other factors, can weigh heavily in those decisions. PMID:22822470

Predictors of owner response to companion animal death in 177 clients from 14 practices in Ontario.

PubMed

Adams, C L; Bonnett, B N; Meek, A H

2000-11-01

To identify predictors of grief and client desires and needs as they relate to pet death. Cross-sectional mail survey. 177 clients, from 14 randomly selected veterinary practices, whose cat or dog died between 6 and 43 days prior to returning the completed questionnaire. Veterinary practices were contacted weekly to obtain the names of clients whose pets had died until approximately 200 clients were identified. Clients were contacted by telephone, and a questionnaire designed to measure grief associated with pet death was mailed to those willing to participate within 1 to 14 days of their pet's death. The questionnaire measured potential correlates and modifiers of grief and included three outcome measures: social/emotional and physical consequences, thought processes, and despair. Demographic data were also collected. Approximately 30% of participants experienced severe grief. The most prominent risk factors for grief included level of attachment, euthanasia, societal attitudes toward pet death, and professional support from the veterinary team. Bivariate and multivariate analyses highlighted the impact owners' attitudes about euthanasia and professional intervention by the veterinary team had on reactions to pet death. Owners' perceptions of societal attitudes, also a predictor of grief, indicate that grief for pets is different than grief associated with other losses.

Physician-assisted death: attitudes and practices of community pharmacists in East Flanders, Belgium.

PubMed

Bilsen, Johan; Bauwens, Marc; Bernheim, Jan; Stichele, Robert Vander; Deliens, Luc

2005-03-01

This study investigates attitudes and practices of community pharmacists with respect to physician-assisted death. Between 15 February and 15 April 2002, we sent anonymous mail questionnaires to 660 community pharmacists in the eastern province of Flanders, Belgium. The response rate was 54% (n = 359). Most of the pharmacists who responded felt that patients have the right to end their own life (73%), and that under certain conditions physicians may assist the patient in dying (euthanasia: 84%; physician-assisted suicide: 61%). Under the prevailing restrictive legislation, a quarter of the pharmacists were willing to dispense lethal drugs for euthanasia versus 86% if it were legalized, but only after being well informed by the physician. The respondents-favour guidelines for pharmacists drafted by their own professional organizations (95%), and enforced by legislation (90%) to ensure careful end-of-life practice. Over the last two years, 7.3% of the responding pharmacists have received a medical prescription for lethal drugs and 6.4% have actually dispensed them. So we can conclude that community pharmacists in East Flanders were not adverse to physician-assisted death, but their cooperation in dispensing lethal drugs was conditional on clinical information about the specific case and on protection by laws and professional guidelines.

Death Outlook and Social Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feifel, Herman; Schag, Daniel

1980-01-01

Examined the hypothesis that there is a relationship between outlook on death and orientation toward mercy killing, abortion, suicide, and euthanasia. Some relationships between death attitudes and perspectives on the social issues emphasized the need to consider specific circumstances as well as abstract concepts. (Author)

Death as portrayed to adolescents through top 40 rock and roll music.

PubMed

Plopper, B L; Ness, M E

1993-01-01

Rock and roll music, an important influential communication source, provides adolescents with messages about death in our society. The first 37 years of Top 40 rock songs (1955-1991) were examined, and songs that included a past death or an impending death were identified. The popularity of the songs, cause of death, gender of the deceased, and relationships among characters were determined. Analysis of song content was conducted, with specific emphasis on attitudes toward and means of coping with death. Results indicate that death songs comprise a disproportionately popular subset of Top 40 music, males dominate the obituaries, and grieving responses are restricted. Findings are discussed from a sociocultural perspective, with attention to their significance for adolescents.

The Psychology of Death

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fields, B. Celestine

1976-01-01

Forty-eight black men and women living and/or attending school in the St. Louis and Washington, D.C. areas responded to questionnaires concerning feelings, attitudes, emotions, etc. towards death and dying. It is concluded that blacks see death as a very significant happening; and that although in some areas blacks have become Americanized in…

Impact of Life Factors upon Attitudes toward Death.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franke, Kevin J.; Durlak, Joseph A.

1990-01-01

Investigated impact of life factors on college students' (N=47) feelings about death. Most important life factors clustered into three categories: Death of Significant Other, Religious Upbringing, and Near-Death Experiences. Although factors had mixed effects across individuals, they were significant predictors of current feelings about death.…

To Reinstate or to Not Reinstate? An Exploratory Study of Student Perspectives on the Death Penalty in Michigan.

PubMed

Adinkrah, Mensah; Clemens, William M

2018-01-01

The U.S. state of Michigan abolished the death penalty in 1846. Since then, several abortive efforts have been made by state legislators to re-establish the death sentence to deal with convicted murderers. Concurrently, some support exists among Michigan residents for the restoration of capital punishment in the state. This article presents the results of the analysis of an attitudinal survey of 116 college students enrolled in three criminal justice courses in a Michigan public university concerning the reinstatement of the death sentence in the state. The data from this exploratory study show that a slight majority (52.6%) of respondents favored reinstatement whereas 45.7% opposed restoration. Advocates and opponents of re-establishment of the death penalty in Michigan provided similar religious, moral and economic arguments proffered by others in previous surveys on capital punishment available in the death penalty literature. The current study makes a contribution to the scant extant literature on attitudes toward the death penalty in abolitionist jurisdictions. As this body of literature grows, it can provide baseline data or information with which to compare attitudes in retentionist states.

The Ontological Representation of Death: A Scale to Measure the Idea of Annihilation Versus Passage.

PubMed

Testoni, Ines; Ancona, Dorella; Ronconi, Lucia

2015-01-01

Since the borders between natural life and death have been blurred by technique, in Western societies discussions and practices regarding death have became infinite. The studies in this area include all the most important topics of psychology, sociology, and philosophy. From a psychological point of view, the research has created many instruments for measuring death anxiety, fear, threat, depression, meaning of life, and among them, the profiles on death attitude are innumerable. This research presents the validation of a new attitude scale, which conjoins psychological dimensions and philosophical ones. This scale may be useful because the ontological idea of death has not yet been considered in research. The hypothesis is that it is different to believe that death is absolute annihilation than to be sure that it is a passage or a transformation of one's personal identity. The hypothetical difference results in a greater inner suffering caused by the former idea. In order to measure this possibility, we analyzed the correlation between Testoni Death Representation Scale and Beck Hopelessness Scale, Suicide Resilience Inventory-25, and Reasons for Living Inventory. The results confirm the hypothesis, showing that the representation of death as total annihilation is positively correlated to hopelessness and negatively correlated to resilience.

Dynamic neural processing of linguistic cues related to death.

PubMed

Liu, Xi; Shi, Zhenhao; Ma, Yina; Qin, Jungang; Han, Shihui

2013-01-01

Behavioral studies suggest that humans evolve the capacity to cope with anxiety induced by the awareness of death's inevitability. However, the neurocognitive processes that underlie online death-related thoughts remain unclear. Our recent functional MRI study found that the processing of linguistic cues related to death was characterized by decreased neural activity in human insular cortex. The current study further investigated the time course of neural processing of death-related linguistic cues. We recorded event-related potentials (ERP) to death-related, life-related, negative-valence, and neutral-valence words in a modified Stroop task that required color naming of words. We found that the amplitude of an early frontal/central negativity at 84-120 ms (N1) decreased to death-related words but increased to life-related words relative to neutral-valence words. The N1 effect associated with death-related and life-related words was correlated respectively with individuals' pessimistic and optimistic attitudes toward life. Death-related words also increased the amplitude of a frontal/central positivity at 124-300 ms (P2) and of a frontal/central positivity at 300-500 ms (P3). However, the P2 and P3 modulations were observed for both death-related and negative-valence words but not for life-related words. The ERP results suggest an early inverse coding of linguistic cues related to life and death, which is followed by negative emotional responses to death-related information.

Perspectives on death and an afterlife in relation to quality of life, depression, and hopelessness in cancer patients without evidence of disease and advanced cancer patients.

PubMed

van Laarhoven, Hanneke W M; Schilderman, Johannes; Verhagen, Constans A H H V M; Vissers, Kris C; Prins, Judith

2011-06-01

It is unknown whether cancer patients with different life expectancies have different attitudes and emotions toward death and an afterlife. Also, it is unclear whether these attitudes and emotions toward death and afterlife influence patients' distress. To assess the relationship of attitudes and emotions towards death and an afterlife with quality of life, depression and hopelessness in cancer patients without evidence of disease and advanced cancer patients facing death. Ninety-one cancer patients without evidence of disease and 57 advanced cancer patients completed the Dutch Attitudes Toward Death and Afterlife Scale. Emotions toward death were measured using the Self-Confrontation Method. Quality of life was measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality-of-Life Questionnaire. Depression and hopelessness were measured with the Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. Average scores on attitudes and emotions toward death and an afterlife were not significantly different between the two groups. However, in the no evidence of disease group, a negative association between negative emotions and social functioning was observed, which was not present in the advanced cancer group. In the advanced cancer group, associations were observed that were not present in the no evidence of disease group: positive associations between an explicitly religious attitude and global health status and between reincarnation belief and role and cognitive functioning, and a negative association between other-directed emotions and social functioning. Patients without evidence of disease and advanced cancer patients do not differ in attitudes or emotions toward death, but the relationship between these attitudes and emotions and aspects of quality of life varies. When there is no evidence of disease, negative emotions play the most important role, whereas in the advanced

Dynamic Neural Processing of Linguistic Cues Related to Death

PubMed Central

Ma, Yina; Qin, Jungang; Han, Shihui

2013-01-01

Behavioral studies suggest that humans evolve the capacity to cope with anxiety induced by the awareness of death’s inevitability. However, the neurocognitive processes that underlie online death-related thoughts remain unclear. Our recent functional MRI study found that the processing of linguistic cues related to death was characterized by decreased neural activity in human insular cortex. The current study further investigated the time course of neural processing of death-related linguistic cues. We recorded event-related potentials (ERP) to death-related, life-related, negative-valence, and neutral-valence words in a modified Stroop task that required color naming of words. We found that the amplitude of an early frontal/central negativity at 84–120 ms (N1) decreased to death-related words but increased to life-related words relative to neutral-valence words. The N1 effect associated with death-related and life-related words was correlated respectively with individuals’ pessimistic and optimistic attitudes toward life. Death-related words also increased the amplitude of a frontal/central positivity at 124–300 ms (P2) and of a frontal/central positivity at 300–500 ms (P3). However, the P2 and P3 modulations were observed for both death-related and negative-valence words but not for life-related words. The ERP results suggest an early inverse coding of linguistic cues related to life and death, which is followed by negative emotional responses to death-related information. PMID:23840787

The Human Experience of Death or, What Can We Learn from Near-Death Experiences?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noyes, Russell Jr.

1982-01-01

As a result of serious accidents and illness many persons undergo death-rebirth experiences. The changes in attitudes, personality, and beliefs that sometimes follow these experiences reflect rebirth and reveal a fundamental human strategy for coping with the threat of death. These experiences have great therapeutic potential. (Author)

A narrative review of the empirical evidence on public attitudes on brain death and vital organ transplantation: the need for better data to inform policy.

PubMed

Shah, Seema K; Kasper, Kenneth; Miller, Franklin G

2015-04-01

Vital organ transplantation is premised on 'the dead donor rule': donors must be declared dead according to medical and legal criteria prior to donation. However, it is controversial whether individuals diagnosed as 'brain dead' are really dead in accordance with the established biological conception of death-the irreversible cessation of the functioning of the organism as a whole. A basic understanding of brain death is also relevant for giving valid, informed consent to serve as an organ donor. There is therefore a need for reliable empirical data on public understanding of brain death and vital organ transplantation. We conducted a review of the empirical literature that identified 43 articles with approximately 18,603 study participants. These data demonstrate that participants generally do not understand three key issues: (1) uncontested biological facts about brain death, (2) the legal status of brain death and (3) that organs are procured from brain dead patients while their hearts are still beating and before their removal from ventilators. These data suggest that, despite scholarly claims of widespread public support for organ donation from brain dead patients, the existing data on public attitudes regarding brain death and organ transplantation reflect substantial public confusion. Our review raises questions about the validity of consent for vital organ transplantation and suggests that existing data are of little assistance in developing policy proposals for organ transplantation from brain dead patients. New approaches to rigorous empirical research with educational components and evaluations of understanding are urgently needed. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Teachers' Attitudes and Experiences Regarding Death Education in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engarhos, Paraskevi; Talwar, Victoria; Schleifer, Michael; Renaud, Sarah-Jane

2013-01-01

Today, young children are exposed to death through various forms of media in their communities, schools, and home environments. With this inevitability of exposure, there is a need for death education in order to inform and support today's youth when facing the subject of death. Death is said to be one of the most emotional and complex matters an…

Contributions of Health and Demographic Status to Death Anxiety and Attitudes toward Voluntary Passive Euthanasia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Devins, Gerald M.

1980-01-01

Greater death acceptance and anxiety were observed among rural as compared to urban-dwelling participants. Responses by a life-threatened geriatric subsample revealed differences in death fears related to type of medical disorder. Previous findings of no difference in the death fears of heart and cancer patients were replicated. (Author)

Assessment of the wish to hasten death in patients with advanced disease: A systematic review of measurement instruments.

PubMed

Bellido-Pérez, Mercedes; Monforte-Royo, Cristina; Tomás-Sábado, Joaquín; Porta-Sales, Josep; Balaguer, Albert

2017-06-01

Patients with advanced conditions may present a wish to hasten death. Assessing this wish is complex due to the nature of the phenomenon and the difficulty of conceptualising it. To identify and analyse existing instruments for assessing the wish to hasten death and to rate their reported psychometric properties. Systematic review based on PRISMA guidelines. The COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments checklist was used to evaluate the methodological quality of validation studies and the measurement properties of the instrument described. The CINAHL, PsycINFO, Pubmed and Web of Science databases were searched from inception to November 2015. A total of 50 articles involving assessment of the wish to hasten death were included. Eight concerned instrument validation and were evaluated using COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments criteria. They reported data for between two and seven measurement properties, with ratings between fair and excellent. Of the seven instruments identified, the Desire for Death Rating Scale or the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death feature in 48 of the 50 articles. The Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death is the most widely used and is the instrument whose psychometric properties have been most often analysed. Versions of the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death are available in five languages other than the original English. This systematic review has analysed existing instruments for assessing the wish to hasten death. It has also explored the methodological quality of studies that have examined the measurement properties of these instruments and offers ratings of the reported properties. These results will be useful to clinicians and researchers with an interest in a phenomenon of considerable relevance to advanced patients.

Assessment of the wish to hasten death in patients with advanced disease: A systematic review of measurement instruments

PubMed Central

Bellido-Pérez, Mercedes; Monforte-Royo, Cristina; Tomás-Sábado, Joaquín; Porta-Sales, Josep; Balaguer, Albert

2016-01-01

Background: Patients with advanced conditions may present a wish to hasten death. Assessing this wish is complex due to the nature of the phenomenon and the difficulty of conceptualising it. Aim: To identify and analyse existing instruments for assessing the wish to hasten death and to rate their reported psychometric properties. Design: Systematic review based on PRISMA guidelines. The COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments checklist was used to evaluate the methodological quality of validation studies and the measurement properties of the instrument described. Data sources: The CINAHL, PsycINFO, Pubmed and Web of Science databases were searched from inception to November 2015. Results: A total of 50 articles involving assessment of the wish to hasten death were included. Eight concerned instrument validation and were evaluated using COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments criteria. They reported data for between two and seven measurement properties, with ratings between fair and excellent. Of the seven instruments identified, the Desire for Death Rating Scale or the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death feature in 48 of the 50 articles. The Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death is the most widely used and is the instrument whose psychometric properties have been most often analysed. Versions of the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death are available in five languages other than the original English. Conclusion: This systematic review has analysed existing instruments for assessing the wish to hasten death. It has also explored the methodological quality of studies that have examined the measurement properties of these instruments and offers ratings of the reported properties. These results will be useful to clinicians and researchers with an interest in a phenomenon of considerable relevance to advanced patients. PMID:28124578

Survey on death and dying in Hong Kong: attitudes, beliefs, and preferred end-of-life care.

PubMed

Mjelde-Mossey, Lee Ann; Chan, Cecilia L W

2007-01-01

Social Workers in end-of-life and palliative care have a particular opportunity to ease the dying process by providing culturally appropriate services to the dying and their families. In today's multicultural social environment, with an ever-increasing immigrant population, social workers are challenged to be knowledgeable about diverse cultures. Recently, a forum of health care professionals and social workers in Hong Kong conducted a survey of the general population to assess death and dying attitudes, beliefs, and preferences for end-of-life care. Four-hundred-thirty Hong Kong Chinese participated in a telephone interview. Responses were compared by gender. The survey results not only contribute to an understanding of Hong Kong Chinese, but can inform social workers who practice with Chinese immigrants to the United States.

Brain stem death and organ donation.

PubMed

Davies, C

1996-01-01

Our understanding of the concept and definition of death has changed over time. The British contribution to the body of knowledge on the diagnosis of brain steam death was the publication by the medical royal colleges (1976) of diagnostic criteria. Most literature and research which explores the knowledge and attitudes of nurses towards the concept of brain stem death is from the USA. Several issues which arise from the literature are discussed in relation to organ donation. Further UK-based research is required.

[Learning about death from the undergraduate: Evaluation of an educational intervention].

PubMed

Álvarez-del Río, Asunción; Torruco-García, Uri; Morales-Castillo, José Daniel; Varela-Ruiz, Margarita

2015-01-01

From June to November 2013 an elective subject "The doctor before death" was held in a public medical school. The aim of this report is to assess the achievement of the objectives of this course. The main objectives of the course were to develop competences, aptitude for reflection before death and encourage changes in attitude towards it. Each session was preceded by an article on the content; during sessions the interaction with physicians and patients facing the approach of death was favored; audiovisual, computer resources were used and conducted discussions. The evaluation of the course was a retrospective questionnaire as a quantitative source, and semi structured interviews and essays as qualitative sources. The development of competences, aptitude for reflection about death and attitude changes showed an increase after the intervention (p < 0.01); competence development had the smallest increase. With qualitative information 11 categories were integrated; all showed positive changes in attitude towards death, aptitude for reflection and developed competences (although in this respect the impact was minor). The educational intervention evaluated met the objectives, however, for a future intervention is necessary to reinforce competence development.

Chinese cultural dimensions of death, dying, and bereavement: focus group findings.

PubMed

Yick, Alice G; Gupta, Rashmi

2002-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans' attitudes and practices about death, dying, and bereavement. To this end, three focus groups were conducted with social work graduate students, pastors and religious leaders, and service providers working in the Chinese American community in New York City. The United States is becoming increasingly multicultural, and Chinese Americans are the most rapidly growing Asian American group. Findings from this study revealed that many Chinese attitudes and practices about death and dying are rooted in Asian cultural values such as filial piety, centrality of the family, and emphasis of hierarchy. In addition, strains of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and local folklore are embedded in these death attitudes and practices. Based on themes extrapolated from the focus groups, recommendations are delineated for service providers in order to implement culturally-sensitive bereavement practices.

Death and Dying as a Controversial Issue in Health Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Robert D.; And Others

1982-01-01

Various perspectives on the inclusion of death education in health education curricula are offered. Discussed are: (1) positive and negative attitudes toward death; (2) teacher competence, qualifications, and skills; (3) religious beliefs about death; (4) Kubler-Ross's Five Stages of Dying; and (5) political implications of teaching about death.…

Determinants of Public Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Adults and Physician-Assisted Death in Neonates in Austria: A National Survey.

PubMed

Stolz, Erwin; Burkert, Nathalie; Großschädl, Franziska; Rásky, Éva; Stronegger, Willibald J; Freidl, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Euthanasia remains a controversial topic in both public discourses and legislation. Although some determinants of acceptance of euthanasia and physician-assisted death have been identified in previous studies, there is still a shortage of information whether different forms of euthanasia are supported by the same or different sub-populations and whether authoritarian personality dispositions are linked to attitudes towards euthanasia. A large, representative face-to-face survey was conducted in Austria in 2014 (n = 1,971). Respondents faced three scenarios of euthanasia and one of physician assisted death differing regarding the level of specificity, voluntariness and subject, requiring either approval or rejection: (1) abstract description of euthanasia, (2) abstract description of physician-assisted suicide, (3) the case of euthanasia of a terminally-ill 79-year old cancer patient, and (4) the case of non-voluntary, physician assisted death of a severely disabled or ill neonate. A number of potential determinants for rejection ordered in three categories (socio-demographic, personal experience, orientations) including authoritarianism were tested via multiple logistic regression analyses. Rejection was highest in the case of the neonate (69%) and lowest for the case of the older cancer patient (35%). A consistent negative impact of religiosity on the acceptance across all scenarios and differential effects for socio-economic status, area of residence, religious confession, liberalism, and authoritarianism were found. Individuals with a stronger authoritarian personality disposition were more likely to reject physician-assisted suicide for adults but at the same time also more likely to approve of physician-assisted death of a disabled neonate. Euthanasia in adults was supported by a partially different sub-population than assisted death of disabled neonates.

Determinants of Public Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Adults and Physician-Assisted Death in Neonates in Austria: A National Survey

PubMed Central

Stolz, Erwin; Burkert, Nathalie; Großschädl, Franziska; Rásky, Éva; Stronegger, Willibald J.; Freidl, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Background Euthanasia remains a controversial topic in both public discourses and legislation. Although some determinants of acceptance of euthanasia and physician-assisted death have been identified in previous studies, there is still a shortage of information whether different forms of euthanasia are supported by the same or different sub-populations and whether authoritarian personality dispositions are linked to attitudes towards euthanasia. Methods A large, representative face-to-face survey was conducted in Austria in 2014 (n = 1,971). Respondents faced three scenarios of euthanasia and one of physician assisted death differing regarding the level of specificity, voluntariness and subject, requiring either approval or rejection: (1) abstract description of euthanasia, (2) abstract description of physician-assisted suicide, (3) the case of euthanasia of a terminally-ill 79-year old cancer patient, and (4) the case of non-voluntary, physician assisted death of a severely disabled or ill neonate. A number of potential determinants for rejection ordered in three categories (socio-demographic, personal experience, orientations) including authoritarianism were tested via multiple logistic regression analyses. Results Rejection was highest in the case of the neonate (69%) and lowest for the case of the older cancer patient (35%). A consistent negative impact of religiosity on the acceptance across all scenarios and differential effects for socio-economic status, area of residence, religious confession, liberalism, and authoritarianism were found. Individuals with a stronger authoritarian personality disposition were more likely to reject physician-assisted suicide for adults but at the same time also more likely to approve of physician-assisted death of a disabled neonate. Conclusion Euthanasia in adults was supported by a partially different sub-population than assisted death of disabled neonates. PMID:25906265

Taking it to the grave: gender, cultural capital, and ethnicity in Turkish death announcements.

PubMed

Ergin, Murat

Popularly considered a great equalizer, death and the rituals around it nevertheless accentuate social distinctions. The present study focuses on a sample (N = 2554) of death announcements in a major Turkish daily newspaper (Hürriyet) from 1970 to 2006. Out of the liminal position of Turkish death announcements between obituaries and death notices emerges a large decentralized collection of private decisions responding to death, reflecting attitudes toward gender, ethnic/religious minority status and cultural capital, and echoing the aggregate efforts of privileged groups to maintain a particular self-image. Class closures lead to openings for traditionally under-represented minorities, such as Jewish Turkish citizens and citizens of Greek or Armenian origin. Results reveal that signs of status and power in announcements are largely monopolized by men of Turkish-Muslim origins. Although the changes in the genre-characteristics of death announcements are slow, they correspond to major turning points in Turkish social history.

Samuel Hartlib on the death of Descartes: a rediscovered letter to Henry More

PubMed Central

Penman, Leigh T. I.

2015-01-01

This paper discloses the content of a previously overlooked epistle by the Anglo-Prussian intelligencer Samuel Hartlib to Henry More concerning the death of René Descartes. After a discussion situating the letter within the sequence of the More–Hartlib correspondence, an analysis of the rhetorical structure of the epistle is offered, followed by a brief assessment of Hartlib's attitude towards Descartes, and the identification of his source concerning the news of the philosopher's death. An account of the transmission of the letter via a nineteenth-century periodical is also provided. The text of Hartlib's letter and an overlooked passage of Hartlib's diary concerning Descartes's death, which draws on the content of the More letter, are presented as appendixes.

Characteristics of Persons Approving of Physician-Assisted Death

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blevins, Dean; Preston, Thomas A.; Werth, James L., Jr.

2005-01-01

The present study describes the characteristics and attitudes of non-terminally ill persons who support physician-assisted death (PAD) along with their expectations and preferences for care in the future. Participants (N=101) completed a survey assessing current affect and attitudes and those expected if terminally ill. Participants' responses…

PA6 Death chat: engaging with dying and death.

PubMed

Goodhead, Andrew; Hartley, Nigel

2015-04-01

Talking about death continues to be a social taboo. St Christopher's has a large, welcoming social space, (The Anniversary Centre) and is committed to opening up its buildings in a number of ways. The St Christopher's social programme, of which Death Chat is part, aims to break down social taboos. Hospices have a responsibility to engage creatively with patients, family members, carers and the wider community. Death Chat, held in the hospice buildings, enables honest discussion about dying and death and topics surrounding these themes. Death Chat meets weekly and is an open meeting that takes a different subject each week as the starting point for conversation. Cheese and wine are shared and participants quickly find a place in the group. Death Chat has attracted patients, family members, bereaved relatives and the community since September 2013. Attendees have reflected that coming has broken taboos. Peter said, 'it's nowhere near as depressing as it sounds; it's a nice, friendly atmosphere - a convivial place.' Molly found Death Chat to be a welcoming, open and challenging space, 'I have learnt that death is more about my attitude to life than anything else. It has been by far the most important lesson I have learnt since dealing with bereavement.' Death Chat provides a forum in which discussion of dying and death for recognises that these are social events and reclaims them from being taboo, to being a normal part of life's experience. © 2015, Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Attitudes to animal euthanasia do not correlate with acceptance of human euthanasia or suicide.

PubMed

Ogden, U; Kinnison, T; May, S A

2012-08-18

Several reasons have been suggested for the elevated risk of suicide experienced by those in the veterinary profession. The current study aimed to investigate possible links between veterinarians' attitudes to 'convenience' or non-justified animal euthanasia and attitudes towards human euthanasia and suicide. Veterinary students and graduates had a negative attitude towards convenience animal euthanasia, but their attitudes changed over time (pre-clinical studies, clinical studies and recently graduated). A greater tolerance to euthanasia was displayed in the later years of study and post qualification - primarily by males. Attitudes towards both human euthanasia and suicide, however, remained stable over time and indicated on average a neutral stance. No correlations were found between attitudes to convenience euthanasia and either human euthanasia or suicide, suggesting a tolerance to convenience euthanasia of animals does not lead to desensitisation in valuing human life and a changed attitude to human euthanasia or suicide, or vice versa. Attitudes to human euthanasia and suicide were predictably correlated, perhaps suggesting an overarching attitude towards control over human death. The results of the current study throw into question the argument that it is the changes in attitudes to animal life that affect veterinarian's attitudes to human life and contribute to the high suicide rate.

Death and the Self.

PubMed

Nichols, Shaun; Strohminger, Nina; Rai, Arun; Garfield, Jay

2018-05-01

It is an old philosophical idea that if the future self is literally different from the current self, one should be less concerned with the death of the future self (Parfit, ). This paper examines the relation between attitudes about death and the self among Hindus, Westerners, and three Buddhist populations (Lay Tibetan, Lay Bhutanese, and monastic Tibetans). Compared with other groups, monastic Tibetans gave particularly strong denials of the continuity of self, across several measures. We predicted that the denial of self would be associated with a lower fear of death and greater generosity toward others. To our surprise, we found the opposite. Monastic Tibetan Buddhists showed significantly greater fear of death than any other group. The monastics were also less generous than any other group about the prospect of giving up a slightly longer life in order to extend the life of another. Copyright © 2018 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Camus and the denial of death: Meursault and Caligula.

PubMed

Scherr, Arthur

2014-01-01

In his works, Caligula and L'Etranger, Albert Camus created two characters, Caligula and Meursault, who rejected the possibility of their mortality. They considered themselves immortal. In accordance with Freud's argument in "Our Attitude Towards Death," their unconscious denied their death.

From motivation to acceptability: a survey of public attitudes towards organ donation in Denmark.

PubMed

Nordfalk, Francisca; Olejaz, Maria; Jensen, Anja M B; Skovgaard, Lea Larsen; Hoeyer, Klaus

2016-01-01

Over the past three decades, public attitudes to organ donation have been a subject of numerous studies focusing on donor motivation. Here, we present a fresh approach. We suggest focusing on public acceptability instead of motivation. The point is to understand public attitudes well enough to avoid risking public support for organ transplantation. We conducted the study in Denmark because there have been significant developments in public attitudes to organ donation in this country. In the 1990s, Denmark was a country with very low public support for organ donation and Denmark was the last country in Europe to introduce brain death as a legal criterion of death, whereas today Eurobarometer surveys rate Denmark as one of the European countries with the highest support for deceased organ donation from brain dead donors. We conducted a telephone survey in Denmark (N = 1195). A questionnaire was developed on the basis of preceding qualitative studies and pilot testing and included reuse of one item from earlier surveys to facilitate historical comparison. The analysis of the data was carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 and focused on descriptive statistics. A clear majority of 91.9 % are positive or very positive towards organ donation; 85.8 % like the idea of their body being used after their death, 85.0 % is willing to donate their own organs, 82.1 % to donate their tissue and only 2.3 % find that too much has been done to promote organ donation. There is limited support for monetary incentives for organ donation (5.8 %) and presumed consent (30.4 %), while a majority (63.9 %) supports making it mandatory to register a personal decision. Religious self-identification has limited impact on attitudes. We can identify a shift over the past three decades from marked opposition to organ transplantation to strong support as well as a pattern in the contemporary public attitudes, which can help explain what is central to public acceptability: self

The hidden impact of conspiracy theories: perceived and actual influence of theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana.

PubMed

Douglas, Karen M; Sutton, Robbie M

2008-04-01

The authors examined the perceived and actual impact of exposure to conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. One group of undergraduate students rated their agreement and their classmates' perceived agreement with several statements about Diana's death. A second group of students from the same undergraduate population read material containing popular conspiracy theories about Diana's death before rating their own and others' agreement with the same statements and perceived retrospective attitudes (i.e., what they thought their own and others' attitudes were before reading the material). Results revealed that whereas participants in the second group accurately estimated others' attitude changes, they underestimated the extent to which their own attitudes were influenced.

Gender Differences Related to Attitudes Toward Suicide and Suicidal Behavior.

PubMed

Poreddi, Vijayalakshmi; Thimmaiah, Rohini; Ramu, Rajalakshmi; Selvi, Sugavana; Gandhi, Sailaxmi; Ramachandra; Math, Suresh Bada

2016-02-01

This descriptive study examined gender differences related to attitudes toward suicide among randomly selected urban residents. Data was collected using a standardized questionnaire through face-to-face interview. Our findings revealed that men hold more pro preventive attitudes to help persons with suicidal thoughts (80.3 %, p = 0.05) and agreed that suicidal attempts are impulsive (78.6 %, p = 0.01). However, they hold permissive attitude to help persons with incurable diseases and expressing death wishes to die (66 %, p = 0.05). A majority of men (78.6 %) than women agreed that "suicidal attempt is essentially a cry for help" (χ (2) = 11.798, p = 0.05). These gender differences need to be taken into consideration when developing appropriate programs to prevent suicide. Further, decriminalizing the law, high-quality research and raising awareness about suicide prevention among the general population is crucial in developing countries like India.

Attitudes of medical students to induced abortion.

PubMed

Buga, G A B

2002-05-01

Unsafe abortion causes 13% of maternal deaths worldwide. Safe abortion can only be offered under conditions where legislation has been passed for legal termination of unwanted pregnancy. Where such legislation exists, accessibility of safe abortion depends on the attitudes of doctors and other healthcare workers to induced abortion. Medical students as future doctors may have attitudes to abortion that will affect the provision of safe abortion. Little is known about the attitudes of South African medical students to abortion. To assess sexual practices and attitudes of medical students to induced abortion and to determine some of the factors that may influence these attitudes. A cross-sectional analytic study involving the self-administration of an anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to medical students at a small, but growing, medical school situated in rural South Africa. Demographic data, sexual practices and attitudes to induced abortion. Two hundred and forty seven out of 300 (82.3%) medical students responded. Their mean age was 21.81 +/- 3.36 (SD) years, and 78.8% were Christians, 17.1% Hindus and 2.6% Muslims. Although 95% of the respondents were single, 68.6% were already sexually experienced, and their mean age at coitarche was 17.24+/-3.14 (SD) years. Although overall 61.2% of the respondents felt abortion is murder either at conception or later, the majority (87.2%) would perform or refer a woman for abortion under certain circumstances. These circumstances, in descending order of frequency, include: threat to mother's life (74.1%), in case of rape (62.3%), the baby is severely malformed (59.5%), threat to mother's mental health (53.8%) and parental incompetence (21.0%). Only 12.5% of respondents would perform or refer for abortion on demand, 12.8% would neither perform nor refer for abortion under any circumstances. Religious affiliation and service attendance significantly influenced some of these attitudes and beliefs

Algerian Immigrants to Spain: Study of Attitude to the Donation of Organs for Transplantation.

PubMed

Ríos, A; Carrillo, J; López-Navas, A I; Martínez-Alarcón, L; Ayala, M A; Garrido, G; Sebastián, M J; Ramis, G; Hernández, A M; Ramírez, P; Parrilla, P

2018-03-01

Many Africans are emigrating to the European Economic Community from countries with little knowledge of transplantation. This population has not yet been studied. Analyze the attitude toward donation among the Algerian population living in Spain. We studied the population born in Algeria and residing in Spain, over 15 years old, and stratified by age and sex. Attitude was surveyed using a questionnaire of organ donation for transplantation ("PCID-DTO Ríos"). Support from African immigration associations was needed to advise on the location of potential respondents. The completion was anonymous and self-administered. Verbal consent was obtained to assist in the study. Of the 441 respondents, 27% (n = 119) were in favor of donation after death, 43% (n = 191) were against, and 30% (n = 131) were undecided. The variables associated with the attitude toward the donation were sex (P = .033), having offspring (P = .027), having commented on the subject of organ transplantation at the family level (P < .001), attitude (P < .001), religion (P < .001), and partner's opinion on organ donation and transplantation (P < .001). Only 16% of the respondents have known a transplant recipient or donor, with this subgroup having the most favorable attitude (68% vs 19%, P < .001). The Algerian population emigrant to Spain has a very unfriendly attitude toward the donation of their own organs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Public Opinion on Organ Donation After Death and Its Influence on Attitudes Toward Organ Donation.

PubMed

Aijing, Luo; Wenzhao, Xie; Wei, Wei; Qiquan, Wan; Xuantong, Deng

2016-08-18

BACKGROUND China officially launched a pilot program of organ donation after cardiac death to overcome the shortage of available organs since 2011. Voluntary organ donation by deceased citizens became the only source of transplant organs beginning January 1, 2015. To investigate public opinions on organ donation by deceased donors, and discuss the effect of these opinions on the willingness and attitude of the public regarding voluntary organ donation. MATERIAL AND METHODS We designed a questionnaire. The survey was conducted from December 2014 to January 2015 in Changsha City, and 417 valid questionnaires were recovered. RESULTS A total of 162 respondents explicitly expressed a willingness to donate organs, and 269 believed that the organ donors' relatives should be compensated. A total of 255 respondents thought it acceptable to complete the donation-consent form when receiving a driver's license. Among the respondents, 65.3% did not agree with the statement "My body is bestowed by my parents, and to donate my body parts would not display filial respect"; 88.9% agreed that "It is necessary to consider the willingness of my family"; 74.4% agreed that "Donated organs have not been fairly and appropriately used; the wealthy and celebrities have been favored"; and 61.4% agreed that "Organ donation laws and regulations are not well developed, and organ donations will result in unnecessary difficulties." More than 80% believed that organ donation and transplantation extend life. CONCLUSIONS Public opinions on organ donation after death are associated with various factors, including traditional values, religious beliefs, compensation mechanisms, donor registration, institutional credibility, and ideals.

College Students' Attitudes toward Elderly Sexuality: A Two Factor Solution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hillman, Jennifer L.; Stricker, George

1996-01-01

Factor analysis of scores of 458 college students on the Aging Sexuality Knowledge and Attitude Scale revealed a two-factor structure. Religious affiliation and ethnicity uniquely predicted permissive/restrictive attitudes. Death anxiety and salience of elderly sexuality uniquely predicted empathic/indifferent attitudes. Students of different ages…

[Professions and fear of death--are they correlated?].

PubMed

Zana, Ágnes; Konkolÿ Thege, Barna; Limpár, Imre; Henczi, Eszter; Golovics, Petra; Pilling, János; Hegedűs, Katalin

2014-08-03

There are relatively few data on the relationship between professions and fear of death. The aim of the authors was to examine the association between profession and fear of death. Physicians, medical students and other healthcare workers, priests, psychologists and non-healthcare workers (N = 1062) were asked about their attitude to death by means of the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale. Significant differences were found in the total and some factor scores among the study groups. Priests showed the lowest fear of death values. Scores on the Fear of the Dead Factor was the highest in psychologists and non-healthcare workers who had no contact with the dead and dying. Fear of death seems rather to be present in professions dealing less directly with the dead and dying.

Teaching Death Management Skills: Health Professionals Confront Patient Avoidance Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lanham, Raymond; And Others

Health professionals tend to view dying patients with two intertwined attitudes. On one hand the patient possesses an irreversible pathological condition and the doctor is obliged to help that patient embrace death with as much dignity as possible. On the other hand, the patient's imminent death is daily testimony to the limits of the doctor's…

Knowledge of the brain-death concept among secondary school teachers.

PubMed

Ríos, A; Febrero, B; López-Navas, A; Martínez-Alarcón, L; Sánchez, J; Guzmán, D; Ramírez, P; Parrilla, P

2012-01-01

The concept of brain death (BD) is not very well known in the population, and its unknown nature is one of the main factors that could lead to an attitude against organ donation. The teaching sector has an important influence on the education of adolescents, and for this reason the teacher's knowledge of these concepts is fundamental to spread the correct meaning of the concept to young people. To analyze the concept of BD among teachers of compulsory secondary education (CSE) in southeast Spain and to determine teachers' influence on attitude toward organ donation. Ten CSE level schools were selected and stratified according to geographical location in southeast spain. A random sample was taken of CSE teachers. The knowledge of the concept of BD and attitude toward donation were analyzed using a validated questionnaire, which was self-administered and completed anonymously. Sixty-four percent (n = 180) of respondents knew the BD concept and they considered it to be the death of an individual. Of the rest, 34% (n = 95) did not know this concept, and the remaining 3% (n = 8) believed it did not mean a person's death. Those who understood the concept of BD were more in favor of deceased donation than those who held the wrong concept (82% versus 75%; P < .01). The knowledge of the concept of BD is associated with variables directly and indirectly related with donation and transplantation (P < .05). A third of the CSE teaching staff did not know or understand the BD concept as the death of an individual. The knowledge of BD positively affects attitude toward organ donation. Given that teachers are a source of information, the basic training of CSE teaching staff in basic concepts such as BD would be important. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predictors of Death Penalty Views in China: An Empirical Comparison Between College Students and Citizens.

PubMed

Jiang, Shanhe; Hu, Ming; Lambert, Eric G

2018-04-01

China's current Criminal Law has 46 death-eligible offenses, and China executes more people than any other country in the world. However, there is a lack of study of attitudes toward capital punishment for specific offenses, and no death penalty view comparison between college students and regular citizens in China was found. This study was taken to address these limitations. Using a sample of 401 respondents from Zhejiang, China, in 2016, the present study found that more than 72% of respondents favored the death penalty without any specification of crime types. Level of death penalty support differed by various specific crimes. As expected, relative to college students, general population citizens were more likely to support capital punishment. Both groups had the highest death penalty support for murder. The study also revealed similar and different reasons behind death penalty attitudes between college students and regular citizens.

The Effects of a Death Education Course on Participant Attitudes toward Death and Dying.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shoemaker, Robert K.; And Others

1981-01-01

Evaluates an adult education course designed to provide information and promote attitudinal change regarding bereavement, terminal illness, the hospice movement, and ability to talk about death and dying. Pre- and posttests were administered. Three of the four attitudinal changes were obtained. (RM)

Understanding Death Attitudes: The Integration of Movies, Positive Psychology, and Meaning Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niemiec, Ryan M.; Schulenberg, Stefan E.

2011-01-01

The portrayal of death is one of the most common themes in movies and is often unrealistic, promoting misconceptions to the public. However, there are also many films that portray death acceptance in an instructive way. Such films depict the development of character strengths useful in embracing life and lessening death anxiety, namely zest,…

Plant a Potato--Learn about Life (and Death).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furman, Erna

1990-01-01

Discusses a method by which young children learn about life and death by studying plants. Plants are used because their life cycle has minimal emotional significance to the children. Parent involvement, teacher attitudes, and experiences with the method are discussed. (DG)

Knowledge of the Brain Death Concept Among the Population of Havana, Cuba.

PubMed

Ríos, A; López-Navas, A I; Sánchez, Á; Martinez-Alarcon, L; Ayala, M A; Garrido, G; Sebastián, M J; Ramis, G; Abdo-Cuza, A; Hernández, A; Ramírez, P; Parrilla, P

2018-03-01

One of the main reasons against organ donation is the fear of apparent death due to ignorance of the brain death concept. Our aim was to assess knowledge about and acceptance of the brain death concept among the population of Havana, Cuba. The population screened, stratified by gender and age, included those >15 years old and living in Havana, Cuba. The appraisal tool utilized was a questionnaire on attitude toward organ donation ("PCID-DTO Ríos"). A random selection of individuals were surveyed according to the stratification. Cuba's census data were used. The participation was anonymized and self-administered. The verbal consent of participants was provided. There were 920 respondents: 31% (n = 282) knew the concept of brain death and accepted it; 57% (n = 529) did not; and 12% (n = 109) had a misperception, or did not accept brain death as a person's death. Those who knew and accepted the concept had a more favorable attitude toward their own organ donation after death (85% vs 61%; P < .001). The psychosocial factors related to the knowledge of brain death concept were: the gender (P = .002), to make up for speaking at a family level about the organ transplant (P < .001), the couple's opinion about the organ donation (P < .001) and the religion (P < .001). The brain death concept is not well understood in the population of Havana, Cuba. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attitudes to kidney donation among primary care patients in rural Crete, Greece.

PubMed

Symvoulakis, Emmanouil K; Komninos, Ioannis D; Antonakis, Nikos; Morgan, Myfanwy; Alegakis, Athanasios; Tsafantakis, Emmanouil; Chatziarsenis, Marios; Philalithis, Anastas; Jones, Roger

2009-02-10

In Greece, there is limited research on issues related to organ donation, and the low rate of registration as donors requires explanation. This study reports the findings of a survey of knowledge and attitudes to kidney donation among primary care patients in rural Crete, Greece. Two rural primary care settings in the island of Crete, Anogia Health Centre and Vrachasi Practice, were involved in a questionnaire survey. This was conducted among primary care patients (aged 18 years and over) with routine appointments, to assess their knowledge and attitudes to kidney donation. General practitioners (GPs) recruited patients and questionnaires were completed following the patients' medical consultation. Pearson's chi square tests were used and crude odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated in order to investigate into the possible associations between the respondents' knowledge, attitudes and specific concerns in relation to their socio-demographic features. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine differences by geographical location. The 224 (92.5%) of the 242 primary care attenders who were approached agreed to participate. Only 2.2% (5/224) of the respondents carried a donor card. Most participants (84.4%, 189/224) did not feel well informed about registering as a kidney donor. More than half of the respondents (54.3%, 121/223) were unwilling to register as a kidney donor and donate kidneys for transplant after death. Over a third of respondents (35.4%, 79/223) were not confident that medical teams would try as hard as possible to save the life of a person who has agreed to donate organs. People with a higher level of education were more likely to be willing to register as kidney donors [(OR: 3.3; 95% CI: 1.8-6.0), p < 0.001)] and to be less worried about their kidneys being removed after death [(OR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1-0.5), p < 0.001)] than those having a lower level of education. Lack of knowledge and information regarding

Attitudes to kidney donation among primary care patients in rural Crete, Greece

PubMed Central

Symvoulakis, Emmanouil K; Komninos, Ioannis D; Antonakis, Nikos; Morgan, Myfanwy; Alegakis, Athanasios; Tsafantakis, Emmanouil; Chatziarsenis, Marios; Philalithis, Anastas; Jones, Roger

2009-01-01

Background In Greece, there is limited research on issues related to organ donation, and the low rate of registration as donors requires explanation. This study reports the findings of a survey of knowledge and attitudes to kidney donation among primary care patients in rural Crete, Greece. Methods Two rural primary care settings in the island of Crete, Anogia Health Centre and Vrachasi Practice, were involved in a questionnaire survey. This was conducted among primary care patients (aged 18 years and over) with routine appointments, to assess their knowledge and attitudes to kidney donation. General practitioners (GPs) recruited patients and questionnaires were completed following the patients' medical consultation. Pearson's chi square tests were used and crude odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated in order to investigate into the possible associations between the respondents' knowledge, attitudes and specific concerns in relation to their socio-demographic features. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine differences by geographical location. Results The 224 (92.5%) of the 242 primary care attenders who were approached agreed to participate. Only 2.2% (5/224) of the respondents carried a donor card. Most participants (84.4%, 189/224) did not feel well informed about registering as a kidney donor. More than half of the respondents (54.3%, 121/223) were unwilling to register as a kidney donor and donate kidneys for transplant after death. Over a third of respondents (35.4%, 79/223) were not confident that medical teams would try as hard as possible to save the life of a person who has agreed to donate organs. People with a higher level of education were more likely to be willing to register as kidney donors [(OR: 3.3; 95% CI: 1.8–6.0), p < 0.001)] and to be less worried about their kidneys being removed after death [(OR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1–0.5), p < 0.001)] than those having a lower level of education. Conclusion Lack

Culturally Diverse Beliefs Concerning Dying, Death, and Bereavement: A School Psychologist's Intervention Challenge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tramonte, Michael R.

School psychologists need to employ a multicultural perspective in the areas of death, dying, and bereavement. To develop multicultural sensitivity and competency requires setting aside one's personal beliefs in an attempt to adopt another's perspective. Consequently, school psychologists first need to explore their own attitudes about death and…

Nurses' attitudes to euthanasia: a review of the literature.

PubMed

Verpoort, Charlotte; Gastmans, Chris; De Bal, Nele; Dierckx de Casterlé, Bernadette

2004-01-01

This article provides an overview of the scarce international literature concerning nurses' attitudes to euthanasia. Studies show large differences with respect to the percentage of nurses who are (not) in favour of euthanasia. Characteristics such as age, religion and nursing specialty have a significant influence on a nurse's opinion. The arguments for euthanasia have to do with quality of life, respect for autonomy and dissatisfaction with the current situation. Arguments against euthanasia are the right to a good death, belief in the possibilities offered by palliative care, religious objections and the fear of abuse. Nurses mention the need for more palliative care training, their difficulties in taking a specific position, and their desire to express their ideas about euthanasia. There is a need to include nurses' voices in the end-of-life discourse because they offer a contextual understanding of euthanasia and requests to die, which is borne out of real experience with people facing death.

Images of God and attitudes towards death in relation to spiritual wellbeing: an exploratory side study of the EORTC QLQ-SWB32 validation study in palliative cancer patients.

PubMed

Kruizinga, Renske; Scherer-Rath, Michael; Schilderman, Johannes B A M; Weterman, Mariëtte; Young, Teresa; van Laarhoven, Hanneke W M

2017-12-08

When patients are facing the ends of their lives, spiritual concerns often become more important. It is argued that effective, integrated palliative care should include addressing patients' spiritual wellbeing. In 2002 the EORTC Quality of Life Group began an international study to develop an spiritual wellbeing measure for palliative patients (SWB). Spiritual wellbeing is a complex construct, which comprises multiple contributory components. While conducting the EORTC SWB validation study with Dutch palliative cancer patients we also conducted an exploratory side study to examine the relationship between their spiritual wellbeing, images of God, and attitudes towards death. Patients with incurable cancer who were able to understand Dutch and were well enough to participate, completed the provisional SWB measure and two scales assessing "Images of God" and "attitudes towards death and afterlife". Linear stepwise regression analysis was conducted to assess the relation between SWB and other factors. Fifty two Dutch patients, 28 females and 24 males, participated. The whole SWB measure validation identified four scoring scales: Existential (EX), Relationship with Self (RS), Relationships with Others (RO), Relationship with Something Greater (RSG) and Relationship with God (RG, for believers only). Adherence to an image of an Unknowable God and a worse WHO performance status were negatively associated with the EX scale. The image of an Unknowable God was also found to be negatively associated with the RS scale. Higher education correlated positively with the RO scale. Adherence to a Personal or Non-Personal Image of God was not found to be positively influencing any of the domains of SWB. For our participants, an Unknowable Image of God had a negative relationship with their SWB. Furthermore, specific images of God (Personal or Non Personal) are not associated with domains of SWB. Together, these findings suggest that spiritual wellbeing surpasses traditional

Death Orientation and Communication with the Terminally Ill.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eggerman, Sinda; Dustin, Dick

1986-01-01

Examined relationship betwen attitude toward death and the terminal patient and communication with terminally ill in 103 medical students and 15 family physicians. Relationships were found between indices (Terminal Illness Questionnaire, Threat Index) and factors used in determining whether to reveal a terminal diagnosis. (Author/NRB)

Attitudes and barriers to the use of donation after cardiac death livers: Comparison of a United States transplant center survey to the united network for organ sharing data.

PubMed

Sher, Linda; Quintini, Cristiano; Fayek, Sameh Adel; Abt, Peter; Lo, Mary; Yuk, Pui; Ji, Lingyun; Groshen, Susan; Case, Jamie; Marsh, Christopher Lee

2017-11-01

Transplantation of liver grafts from donation after cardiac death (DCD) is limited. To identify barriers of DCD liver utilization, all active US liver transplant centers (n = 138) were surveyed, and the responses were compared with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) data. In total, 74 (54%) centers responded, and diversity in attitudes was observed, with many not using organ and/or recipient prognostic variables defined in prior studies and UNOS data analysis. Most centers (74%) believed lack of a system allowing a timely retransplant is a barrier to utilization. UNOS data demonstrated worse 1- and 5-year patient survival (PS) and graft survival (GS) in DCD (PS, 86% and 64%; GS, 82% and 59%, respectively) versus donation after brain death (DBD) recipients (PS, 90% and 71%; GS, 88% and 69%, respectively). Donor alanine aminotransferase (ALT), recipient Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD), and cold ischemia time (CIT) significantly impacted DCD outcomes to a greater extent than DBD outcomes. At 3 years, relisting and retransplant rates were 7.9% and 4.6% higher in DCD recipients. To optimize outcome, our data support the use of DCD liver grafts with CIT <6-8 hours in patients with MELD ≤ 20. In conclusion, standardization of donor and recipient criteria, defining the impact of ischemic cholangiopathy, addressing donor hospital policies, and developing a strategy for timely retransplant may help to expand the use of these organs. Liver Transplantation 23 1372-1383 2017 AASLD. © 2017 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Psychosocial Aspects of Death among the Elderly: A Review of the Literature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wass, Hannelore; Myers, Jane E.

1982-01-01

Reviews the research dealing with psychosocial aspects of death among the elderly, and discusses implications for counseling in the following areas: talking about death, fears, suicide, attitudes and bereavement. A variety of counseling methods are suggested. Grief is defined as a constructive process which results in transition. (JAC)

Nurses' attitudes towards euthanasia in conflict with professional ethical guidelines.

PubMed

Terkamo-Moisio, Anja; Kvist, Tarja; Kangasniemi, Mari; Laitila, Teuvo; Ryynänen, Olli-Pekka; Pietilä, Anna-Maija

2017-02-01

Despite the significant role of nurses in end-of-life care, their attitudes towards euthanasia are under-represented both in the current literature and the controversial debate that is ongoing in several countries. What are the attitudes towards euthanasia among Finnish nurses? Which characteristics are associated with those attitudes? Cross-sectional web-based survey. Participants and research context: A total of 1003 nurses recruited via the members' bulletin of the Finnish Nurses Association and social media. Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the Committee on Research Ethics of the university to which the authors were affiliated. The majority (74.3%) of the participants would accept euthanasia as part of Finnish healthcare, and 61.8% considered that Finland would benefit from a law permitting euthanasia. Most of the nurses (89.9%) thought that a person must have the right to decide on his or her own death; 77.4% of them considered it likely that they would themselves make a request for euthanasia in certain situations. The value of self-determination and the ability to choose the moment and manner of one's death are emphasized in the nurses' attitudes towards euthanasia. A continuous dialogue about euthanasia and nurses' shared values is crucial due to the conflict between nurses' attitudes and current ethical guidelines on nursing.

Attitude of Palestinian Nursing Students Toward Caring for Dying Patients: A Call for Change in Health Education Policy.

PubMed

Abu-El-Noor, Nasser Ibrahim; Abu-El-Noor, Mysoon Khalikl

2016-06-01

Death is a natural process that occurs each day. Some nursing students may encounter the experience of taking care of a dying patient while others do not. Therefore, their attitude toward death and caring for dying patients may vary. The purpose of this study was to assess Palestinian student nurses' attitudes toward death and caring for dying patients and their families. In a cross-sectional, descriptive study, all fourth-year students at the College of Nursing, Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine, were invited to participate in this study. A total of 141 students completed the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale Form B (FATCOD-B). Results revealed that the mean score on the FATCOD-B was (96.96 ± 8.30). Overall, nursing students in the sample demonstrated a relatively low attitude toward caring for dying patients and their families. No statistically significant differences of students' attitudes toward caring for dying patients were found between male and female students nor between students who attended death cases and those who did not. The results suggest that theoretical nursing education should place more emphasis on palliative care to improve the quality of care at the end of life. © The Author(s) 2015.

Individualism and the Emerging "Modern" Ideology of Death.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kearl, Michael C.; Harris, Richard

1981-01-01

Begins with a theoretical elaboration of individualism. Argues its development is associated with an emergent death ideology emphasizing personal control. In two national samples attitudes toward suicide, abortion and the right to die scaled unidimensionally. Results indicated indices of individualism were the best predictors of position on this…

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Preferences of Advance Decisions, End-of-Life Care, and Place of Care and Death in Hong Kong. A Population-Based Telephone Survey of 1067 Adults.

PubMed

Chung, Roger Yat-Nork; Wong, Eliza Lai-Yi; Kiang, Nicole; Chau, Patsy Yuen-Kwan; Lau, Janice Y C; Wong, Samuel Yeung-Shan; Yeoh, Eng-Kiong; Woo, Jean W

2017-04-01

According to the 2015 Quality of Death Index published by the Intelligence Unit of the Economist, Hong Kong is ranked 22nd in terms of quality of palliative care in the world, behind many other major developed countries in Asia, including Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. The objectives of the present study were to describe the knowledge, attitude, and preferences of the general Hong Kong adult population across different age groups regarding end-of-life (EOL) care decisions, place of care and death, as well as advance directive (AD). This was a population-based cross-sectional survey conducted by telephone. A total of 1067 adults over 30 years old were contacted through residential telephone lines using a random sampling method and were interviewed. Information on sociodemographic factors, general health status, chronic diseases, knowledge, attitude and preferences of advance decisions, EOL care, and place of death were collected. A total of 85.7% had not heard of AD, but 60.9% would prefer to make their own AD if legislated after explanation; and for those who did not prefer to have an AD, the predominant concern was the possible change of mind afterward. Adjusted logistic regression suggested that female participants were less willing to make an AD, whereas those with prior knowledge of do-not-attempt-cardiopulmonary-resuscitation significantly increased the chance of making an AD. In terms of life-sustaining treatments, a predominant 87.6% preferred to receive appropriate palliative care that gives comfort rather than to prolong life if being diagnosed to be terminally ill; 43% disagreed that doctors should generally try to keep patients alive for as long as possible; and 86.2% agreed that the patient's own wishes should determine what treatment he/she should receive. Adjusted logistic regression showed that palliative care was more preferred by age groups 50 years or above but was less preferred by those who did not care for their family members

[Bioethics of Sigmund Freud´s death: euthanasia or appropriation?].

PubMed

Figueroa, Gustavo

2011-04-01

The death of Freud raises the ethical dilemma about euthanasia. It can be characterized as indirect active euthanasia according to the rule of double effect, or terminal sedation, or palliated death. The primacy of the principle of autonomy over non maleficence, conditioned the physician's attitude toward his patient Freud. The physician assisted death was and remains punishable in western medicine. Therefore, a fundamental tradition was infringed. In contrast, the present study attempts to characterize the final position of Freud himself to his death and called it appropriation of his finitude; he assumes his being-unto-death, that is, he now projects his being not as a being-at-his-end but as a being-unto-end, indicating thereby that he understood that the end always penetrated his whole existence.

Sentient Nonpersons and the Disvalue of Death.

PubMed

DeGrazia, David

2016-09-01

Implicit in our everyday attitudes and practices is the assumption that death ordinarily harms a person who dies. A far more contested matter is whether death harms sentient individuals who are not persons, a category that includes many animals and some human beings. On the basis of the deprivation account of the harm of death, I argue that death harms sentient nonpersons (whenever their lives would be worth continuing). I next consider possible bases for the commonsense judgment that death ordinarily harms persons more than it harms sentient nonpersons. Contrary to what some philosophers believe, it is doubtful that the familiar resources of prudential value theory can vindicate this judgment. I show that the approach that at first glance seems most promising for supporting this judgment - namely, invoking an objective account of well-being - faces substantial challenges, before arguing that McMahan's time-relative interest account supplies the needed theoretical basis. I then go on to extract a significant practical implication of the first thesis, that death ordinarily harms sentient nonpersons: We should find a way to discontinue the routine killing of animal subjects following their use in experiments. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Correlations of Attitudes toward Suicide with Death Anxiety, Religiosity, and Personal Closeness to Suicide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minear, Julianne D.; Brush, Lorelei R.

1980-01-01

A study of college students showed the more supportive students were about the right of people to commit suicide, the more anxious they felt about death, the less strongly they were committed to a religion, and the more seriously they had thought about committing suicide. (Author)

The effects of a short-term death training program on nursing home nursing staff.

PubMed

Mullins, L C; Merriam, S

1984-01-01

This study examines the effects on nursing home nurses of a two-day training program concerned with nurses and their response to the dying patient. Utilizing the Solomon four-group design, the study investigates whether exposure to information on death and dying (a) results in the acquisition of greater knowledge about death and dying, (b) is accompanied by a more positive attitude toward the elderly, and (c) is accompanied by a change in anxiety about death. Based on t tests and one-way analyses of covariance, the results point up the mixed nature of short-term training programs. It was found that there was a significant increase in the nurses' knowledge about death and dying, there was no change in their attitudes toward the elderly, and there was a significant increase among the nurses in the death anxiety experienced. This is not to suggest that training programs of this sort should not be conducted with nursing home staff. On the one hand such programs provide information useful for job performance. On the other hand they create some sensitization to death, which at the very least could give nurses greater insights into the concerns of the patients and perhaps stimulate empathetic responses.

[Cause of death: from primary disease to direct cause of death].

PubMed

Oppewal, F; Smedts, F M M; Meyboom-de Jong, B

2005-07-23

Following the death of a patient, the treating physician in the Netherlands is required to fill out two forms. Form A, which is the certificate of death and Form B, which is used by the Statistics Netherlands to compile data on causes ofdeath. The latter form often poses difficulty for the physician with respect to the primary cause of death. This applies particularly to cases of sudden death, which account for one third of all deaths in the Netherlands. As a result, the statistical analyses appear to lead to an incorrect representation of the distribution of causes of death. A more thorough investigation into the primary cause of death is desirable, if necessary, supported by a request for an autopsy. The primary cause of death is to be regarded as the basic disease from which the cascade of changes ultimately leading to death originated.

Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of Abdel-Khalek's Death Anxiety Scale among College Students.

PubMed

Sariçiçek Aydoğan, Aybala; Gülseren, Şeref; Öztürk Sarikaya, Özyıl; Özen, Çiğdem

2015-12-01

Although death anxiety is considered a universal phenomenon, attitudes toward death may vary across populations that differ in terms of religion and culture. Abdel-Khalek's Death Anxiety Scale (ASDA) was developed on the basis of the rationale that there are specific concepts related to death and after death in Muslim populations. This study aims to translate and adapt ASDA in the Turkish population, examine its validity and reliability, and to compare its psychometric properties with the widely used Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). A total of 220 medical students were included in the study. The Turkish version of ASDA, DAS, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were used for data collection. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were .86 for ASDA and .66 for DAS. Analysis by principal components with varimax rotation produced five factors for ASDA that explained 65.6% of total variance. ASDA and DAS were highly correlated with each other (r=.68, p<.001). The results of this study indicate that the Turkish version of Abdel-Khalek's Death Anxiety Scale is a reliable and valid instrument. The Turkish version of ASDA revealed better psychometric properties than DAS. This finding may reflect specific cultural and religious attitudes toward death or may result from more comprehensible language use in ASDA.

[Structural Equation Modeling on Living and Brain Death Organ Donation Intention in Nursing Students].

PubMed

Kim, Eun A; Choi, So Eun

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to test and validate a model to predict living and brain death organ donation intention in nursing students. The conceptual model was based on the theory planned behavior. Quota sampling methodology was used to recruit 921 nursing students from all over the country and data collection was done from October 1 to December 20, 2013. The model fit indices for the hypothetical model were suitable for the recommended level. Knowledge, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control explained 40.2% and 40.1% respectively for both living and brain death organ donation intention. Subjective norm was the most direct influential factor for organ donation intention. Knowledge had significant direct effect on attitude and indirect effect on subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. These effects were higher in brain death organ donation intention than in living donation intention. The overall findings of this study suggest the need to develop systematic education programs to increases knowledge about brain death organ donation. The development, application, and evaluation of intervention programs are required to improve subjective norm.

Cultural Implications of Death and Loss from AIDS among Women in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iwelunmor, Juliet; Airhihenbuwa, Collins O.

2012-01-01

Over 1.8 million people have died of AIDS in South Africa, and it continues to be a death sentence for many women. The purpose of this study was to examine the broader context of death and loss from HIV/AIDS and to identify the cultural factors that influenced existing beliefs and attitudes. The participants included 110 women recruited from 3…

Attitudes of the Life Threatened Hospitalized Elderly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Robert J.; Newton, James H.

1977-01-01

This article deals with a survey of 29 elderly patients' attitudes toward death, dying, aging, life's meaning, security, pain, and interpersonal relationships. This paper was presented at the annual Canadian Psychological Association meeting, Toronto, Ontario, June 1976. (Author)

How does cot death prevention advice influence parents' behaviour?

PubMed

Miller, L H; Fraser, A; Moy, R

2008-09-01

To explore parents' understanding of the recommended cot death prevention strategies, and to discuss what they are doing in practice. If there is a difference between knowledge and implementation measures, possible reasons for this will be considered. A qualitative study using thematic analysis, aimed at finding out attitudes and opinions of parents about cot death prevention measures. Twelve participants were interviewed from two disadvantaged communities in south Birmingham. Parents found that much of the cot death prevention advice they were provided with was conflicting and caused confusion. As such, many parents chose to follow advice from non-healthcare sources. Some parents were carrying out preventative measures but were not aware of the reason for doing it. Many felt they did not receive enough advice relating to cot death prevention. Cot death health promotion advice appears to be inadequate among patients from a deprived socioeconomic background. Some of these issues could be resolved with increased training addressing these matters.

Attitudes on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide among medical students in Athens.

PubMed

Kontaxakis, Vp; Paplos, K G; Havaki-Kontaxaki, B J; Ferentinos, P; Kontaxaki, M-I V; Kollias, C T; Lykouras, E

2009-10-01

Attitudes towards assisted death activities among medical students, the future health gatekeepers, are scarce and controversial. The aims of this study were to explore attitudes on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide among final year medical students in Athens, to investigate potential differences in attitudes between male and female medical students and to review worldwide attitudes of medical students regarding assisted death activities. A 20- item questionnaire was used. The total number of participants was 251 (mean age 24.7±1.8 years). 52.0% and 69.7% of the respondents were for the acceptance of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, respectively. Women's attitudes were more often influenced by religious convictions as well as by the fact that there is a risk that physician-assisted suicide might be misused with certain disadvantaged groups. On the other hand, men more often believed that a request for physician-assisted suicide from a terminally ill patient is prima-facie evidence of a mental disorder, usually depression. Concerning attitudes towards euthanasia among medical students in various countries there are contradictory results. In USA, the Netherlands, Hungary and Switzerland most of the students supported euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. However, in many other countries such as Norway, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Italy, Germany, Sudan, Malaysia and Puerto Rico most students expressed negative positions regarding euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.

Nurses' attitudes and knowledge regarding organ and tissue donation and transplantation in a provincial hospital: A descriptive and multivariate analysis.

PubMed

Lomero, Maria Del Mar; Jiménez-Herrera, María F; Rasero, Maria José; Sandiumenge, Alberto

2017-09-01

The attitudes and knowledge of nursing personnel regarding organ and tissue donation can influence the decision to donate. This study aimed to determine these two factors among nurses at a district hospital in Barcelona, Spain. A survey was carried out using a 35 item questionnaire. Results were subjected to descriptive and comparative statistical analyses using bivariate and multivariate analyses to examine the relation between demographic data and attitudes toward donation. The completion rate was 68.2%, with 98.6% of those responding stating that they were in favor of organ donation. The respondents were unsure as to whether the criteria for inclusion in transplant waiting lists were appropriate (57.5%), whereas 72.2% agreed that brain death is equivalent to death. The bivariate analysis revealed a significant association between a positive attitude toward donation and working on permanent night shift no religious beliefs. Attitudes toward donation among nurses were generally positive; a negative attitude, although attitudes towards donation among the nurses participating in the study were generally positive, it should be pointed out that when a negative attitude does exist this affects significant aspects such as belief in the diagnosis of brain death or the criteria for inclusion on the waiting list, amongst others, which reflects that specific training in donation focused on nurses continues to be needed. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Disclosing Medical Errors to Patients: Attitudes and Practices of Physicians and Trainees

PubMed Central

Jones, Elizabeth W.; Wu, Barry J.; Forman-Hoffman, Valerie L.; Levi, Benjamin H.; Rosenthal, Gary E.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND Disclosing errors to patients is an important part of patient care, but the prevalence of disclosure, and factors affecting it, are poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To survey physicians and trainees about their practices and attitudes regarding error disclosure to patients. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS Survey of faculty physicians, resident physicians, and medical students in Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions of the United States. MEASUREMENTS Actual error disclosure; hypothetical error disclosure; attitudes toward disclosure; demographic factors. RESULTS Responses were received from 538 participants (response rate = 77%). Almost all faculty and residents responded that they would disclose a hypothetical error resulting in minor (97%) or major (93%) harm to a patient. However, only 41% of faculty and residents had disclosed an actual minor error (resulting in prolonged treatment or discomfort), and only 5% had disclosed an actual major error (resulting in disability or death). Moreover, 19% acknowledged not disclosing an actual minor error and 4% acknowledged not disclosing an actual major error. Experience with malpractice litigation was not associated with less actual or hypothetical error disclosure. Faculty were more likely than residents and students to disclose a hypothetical error and less concerned about possible negative consequences of disclosure. Several attitudes were associated with greater likelihood of hypothetical disclosure, including the belief that disclosure is right even if it comes at a significant personal cost. CONCLUSIONS There appears to be a gap between physicians’ attitudes and practices regarding error disclosure. Willingness to disclose errors was associated with higher training level and a variety of patient-centered attitudes, and it was not lessened by previous exposure to malpractice litigation. PMID:17473944

The effects of death reminders on sex differences in prejudice toward gay men and lesbians.

PubMed

Webster, Russell J; Saucier, Donald A

2011-01-01

Terror management research shows that death reminders (mortality salience) increase prejudice toward worldview violators. Two studies investigated whether death reminders exacerbated differences in heterosexual men's and women's reports of sexual prejudice (negative attitudes based on sexual orientation). Results showed that following death reminders, sex differences in anti-gay discrimination and affective prejudice toward gay men (but not toward lesbians) were larger, and that these increased sex differences were mediated by gender role beliefs. The current studies suggest that researchers may attenuate the effects of death reminders by lessening the perceived worldview violation in addition to alleviating the existential terror of death.

Music during after-death care: a focus group study.

PubMed

Holm, Marianne S; Fålun, Nina; Gjengedal, Eva; Norekvål, Tone M

2012-01-01

The intensive care unit (ICU) is not only a place to recover from injuries incurred during accidents and from serious illness. For many patients, it is also a place where they might die. Nursing care does not stop when a patient dies; rather, it continues with the care of the deceased and with family support. The aims of this study were (1) to explore the experiences and attitudes of nurses towards the use of ambient music in the ICU during after-death care and (2) to describe the feedback nurses received from relatives when music was used during the viewing. A qualitative design employing focus group interviews was used. Three focus group interviews with 15 nurses were conducted. All the interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Six main categories of attitudes emerged from the analysis: (1) different attitudes among nurses towards the use of music; (2) music affects the atmosphere; (3) music affects emotions; (4) use of music was situational; (5) special choice of music and (6) positive feedback from the bereaved. This study demonstrates that music might be helpful for nurses during after-death care as well as for the care of the relatives. Including ambient music in an after-death care programme can help nurses show respect for the deceased as the body is being prepared. Music played during the viewing may be a way of helping relatives in their time of grieving. It may ease the situation by making that event special and memorable. However, standardizing this intervention does not seem appropriate. Rather, the individual nurse and the family must decide whether music is to be used in a particular situation. © 2012 The Authors. Nursing in Critical Care © 2012 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.

Preference of Chinese general public and healthcare providers for a good death.

PubMed

Haishan, Huang; Hongjuan, Liu; Tieying, Zeng; Xuemei, Pu

2015-03-01

The aim of this study is to find and compare the current situation between common people and healthcare providers' preferences for a good death in the context of Chinese culture. A cross-sectional anonymous questionnaire survey covering 190 ordinary Chinese people and 323 healthcare providers was conducted. An inventory of the good death was translated and the subjects were surveyed about their attitude toward it. Permission to conduct the study was granted by department chiefs, nurse managers and the participants themselves. The participants were informed that they took part on a voluntary and anonymous basis, that they could withdraw at any time, that they had the right to ignore questions they did not wish to answer, and that whatever they chose to do would not jeopardize their employment conditions. The attributes that were perceived as important by major respondents for a good death were maintaining hope and pleasure, good relationship with medical staff, good relationship with family, independence, environment comfort, being respected as an individual, preparation for death, physical and psychological comfort, dying in a favorite place, and not being a burden to others. And some relatively less important characteristics were life completion, receiving enough treatment, natural death, controlling over the future, unawareness of death, pride and beauty, feeling that one's life is worth living, and religious and spiritual comfort. We also found that healthcare providers were more likely than general out-patients to perceive "physical and psychological comfort," "dying in a favorite place," "good relationship with medical staff," and "natural death" as important for a good death. This study offers healthcare providers in China a fundamental understanding of the normal expectations of the general public for a good death. It is believed that these findings in our study are valuable to improve palliative care in China. We compared the attitudes of Chinese and

Do Age and Religion Have an Impact on the Attitude to Organ Transplantation?

PubMed

Kobus, G; Malyszko, J S; Małyszko, Jolanta

2016-06-01

Religious issues may be a significant reason for the lack of organs for transplantation. Younger people have a more enthusiastic attitude toward organ donation. The goal of the present study was to determine whether age and religion affect people's attitudes to organ transplantation. This trial was a diagnostic poll study using an original survey questionnaire involving 1273 people living in Podlaskie Voivodeship. Treatment with the use of organs from dead donors was approved by 88.3% of the respondents aged ≤60 years and 70.5% of those aged >60 years; the highest number of those who opposed this procedure occurred in the group aged >60 years (22.3%). Baptists approved of the method more often than persons of other religions; Muslims disapproved of it more often than others (25%). Approximately 96% of the participants, regardless of religion, had a positive attitude toward organ transplantation, but only 81% aged >60 years had a positive attitude toward organ donation; there were significantly more Catholics in this group (P < .026). In the group aged >60 years, 63.8% expressed their consent; 66.7% of them were Muslims and Baptists. Approximately 86% of persons aged ≤60 years were willing to donate their own organs after death. These people were significantly more often Catholic (P < .045). Age and religion have a considerable influence on positive attitudes toward transplantation. The majority of younger people, as well as Catholics, approve of the removal of organs from living donors and from dead donors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of Abdel-Khalek’s Death Anxiety Scale among College Students

PubMed Central

SARIÇİÇEK AYDOĞAN, Aybala; GÜLSEREN, Şeref; ÖZTÜRK SARIKAYA, Özyıl; ÖZEN, Çiğdem

2015-01-01

Introduction Although death anxiety is considered a universal phenomenon, attitudes toward death may vary across populations that differ in terms of religion and culture. Abdel-Khalek’s Death Anxiety Scale (ASDA) was developed on the basis of the rationale that there are specific concepts related to death and after death in Muslim populations. This study aims to translate and adapt ASDA in the Turkish population, examine its validity and reliability, and to compare its psychometric properties with the widely used Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). Methods A total of 220 medical students were included in the study. The Turkish version of ASDA, DAS, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were used for data collection. Results Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .86 for ASDA and .66 for DAS. Analysis by principal components with varimax rotation produced five factors for ASDA that explained 65.6% of total variance. ASDA and DAS were highly correlated with each other (r=.68, p<.001) Conclusion The results of this study indicate that the Turkish version of Abdel-Khalek’s Death Anxiety Scale is a reliable and valid instrument. The Turkish version of ASDA revealed better psychometric properties than DAS. This finding may reflect specific cultural and religious attitudes toward death or may result from more comprehensible language use in ASDA. PMID:28360742

Death Anxiety among Nurses and Health Care Professionals: A Review Article

PubMed Central

Nia, Hamid Sharif; Lehto, Rebecca H.; Ebadi, Abbas; Peyrovi, Hamid

2016-01-01

Death anxiety, a negative affective state that is incited by mortality salience, may be experienced by nurses and other health care workers who are exposed to sickness, trauma, and violence. This paper examines death anxiety and management strategies among health providers in different health settings across cultures. A literature review of the research published since 2000 in the English language was conducted using PubMed, Science direct, CINAHL, and PsychInfo databases. Death anxiety is commonly experienced and is associated with more negative attitudes about caring for dying patients and their families. Performing educational and psychological interventions to help nurses build strong coping strategies for managing death anxiety are recommended to offset negative consequences such as leaving positions, poor communication, and decrements in personal health and quality of life. PMID:26793726

Training law enforcement to respond to opioid overdose with naloxone: Impact on knowledge, attitudes, and interactions with community members.

PubMed

Wagner, Karla D; Bovet, L James; Haynes, Bruce; Joshua, Alfred; Davidson, Peter J

2016-08-01

Training law enforcement officers (LEOs) to administer naloxone to opioid overdose victims is increasingly part of comprehensive efforts to reduce opioid overdose deaths. Such efforts could yield positive interactions between LEOs and community members and might ultimately help lower overdose death rates. We evaluated a pilot LEO naloxone program by (1) assessing opioid overdose knowledge and attitudes (competency in responding, concerns about naloxone administration, and attitudes towards overdose victims) before and after a 30min training on overdose and naloxone administration, and (2) conducting qualitative interviews with LEOs who used naloxone to respond to overdose emergencies after the training. Eighty-one LEOs provided pre- and post-training data. Nearly all (89%) had responded to an overdose while serving as an LEO. Statistically significant increases were observed in nearly all items measuring opioid overdose knowledge (p's=0.04 to <0.0001). Opioid overdose competencies (p<0.001) and concerns about naloxone administration (p<0.001) significantly improved after the training, while there was no change in attitudes towards overdose victims (p=0.90). LEOs administered naloxone 11 times; nine victims survived and three of the nine surviving victims made at least one visit to substance abuse treatment as a result of a LEO-provided referral. Qualitative data suggest that LEOs had generally positive experiences when they employed the skills from the training. Training LEOs in naloxone administration can increase knowledge and confidence in managing opioid overdose emergencies. Perhaps most importantly, training LEOs to respond to opioid overdose emergencies may have positive effects for LEOs and overdose victims. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Organ donation, awareness, attitudes and beliefs among post graduate medical students.

PubMed

Bapat, Usha; Kedlaya, Prashanth G

2010-01-01

Organ transplantation is the most preferred treatment modality for patients with end-stage organ disease. There is an inadequate supply of cadaver organs commensurate with need. Health-care professionals are the critical link in augmenting public awareness about organ donation. Their attitudes and beliefs can influence the public opinion. This study aims at understanding the awareness, attitudes, and beliefs among the medical postgraduate students. A total of 123 post-graduates of a medical college hospital in South India participated in the study. A specially de-signed questionnaire was used in assessment. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS Windows version 10.0. The mean age of the postgraduate students was 28.32 + or - 3.5 years, 54% were males, 62% belonged to Christian religion, 69% were single, 77% were from nuclear families, 87% had urban background, and 54% were from upper socioeconomic strata. About 97% said they were aware of organ donation through media, 23 understood the concept of "cadaver" as "brain-death" and 93% were able to distinguish between brain-death and persistent vegetative state. Eighty-nine percent wished to donate their organs, 77% did not believe in body disfigurement and 87% did not believe in rebirth without the donated organs, if they pledged their organs. Sixty-nine percent were willing to donate the organs of their family members. Eighty percent were willing to receive organs from family and cadaver, 40% were willing to donate a child's organs, 95% did not believe that organ donation is against their religion, 87% disagreed with the notion that doctors would not impart adequate care if they were pledged organ donors and 79% agreed that doctors would not declare death prematurely, if they had pledged their organs during life. There was a statistically significant correlation between attitudes, beliefs and demographics. In conclusion, the concept of brain-death was clearly understood by only a small number of medical

Assessment of Anemia Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors among Pregnant Women in Sierra Leone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

M'Cormack, Fredanna A. D.; Drolet, Judy C.

2012-01-01

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia prevalence of pregnant Sierra Leone women currently is reported to be 59.7%. Anemia is considered to be a direct cause of 3-7% of maternal deaths and an indirect cause of 20-40% of maternal deaths. This study explores knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of urban pregnant Sierra Leone women regarding anemia.…

Can education alter attitudes, behaviour and knowledge about organ donation? A pretest-post-test study.

PubMed

McGlade, Donal; Pierscionek, Barbara

2013-12-30

The emergence of evidence suggests that student nurses commonly exhibit concerns about their lack of knowledge of organ donation and transplantation. Formal training about organ donation has been shown to positively influence attitude, encourage communication and registration behaviours and improve knowledge about donor eligibility and brain death. The focus of this study was to determine the attitude and behaviour of student nurses and to assess their level of knowledge about organ donation after a programme of study. A quantitative questionnaire was completed before and after participation in a programme of study using a pretest-post-test design. Participants were recruited from a University based in Northern Ireland during the period from February to April 2011. 100 preregistration nurses (female : male=96 : 4) aged 18-50 years (mean (SD) 24.3 (6.0) years) were recruited. Participants' knowledge improved over the programme of study with regard to the suitability of organs that can be donated after death, methods available to register organ donation intentions, organ donation laws, concept of brain death and the likelihood of recovery after brain death. Changes in attitude postintervention were also observed in relation to participants' willingness to accept an informed system of consent and with regard to participants' actual discussion behaviour. The results provide support for the introduction of a programme that helps inform student nurses about important aspects of organ donation.

From Death to Death Certificate: What do the Dead say?

PubMed

Gill, James R

2017-03-01

This is an overview of medicolegal death investigation and death certification. Postmortem toxicological analysis, particularly for ethanol and drugs of abuse, plays a large role in the forensic investigation of natural and unnatural deaths. Postmortem drug concentrations must be interpreted in light of the autopsy findings and circumstances. Interpretations of drug and ethanol concentrations are important for death certification, but they also may be important for other stakeholders such as police, attorneys, public health practitioners, and the next-of-kin.

Reaction on Twitter to a Cluster of Perinatal Deaths: A Mixed Method Study

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Background Participation in social networking sites is commonplace and the micro-blogging site Twitter can be considered a platform for the rapid broadcasting of news stories. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the Twitter status updates and subsequent responses relating to a number of perinatal deaths which occurred in a small maternity unit in Ireland. Methods An analysis of Twitter status updates, over a two month period from January to March 2014, was undertaken to identify the key themes arising in relation to the perinatal deaths. Results Our search identified 3577 tweets relating to the reported perinatal deaths. At the height of the controversy, Twitter updates generated skepticism in relation to the management of not only of the unit in question, which was branded as unsafe, but also the governance of the entire Irish maternity service. Themes of concern and uncertainty arose whereby the professional motives of the obstetric community and staffing levels in the maternity services were called into question. Conclusions Twitter activity provides a useful insight into attitudes towards health-related events. The role of the media in influencing opinion is well-documented and this study underscores the challenges that clinicians face in light of an obstetric media scandal. Further study to identify how the obstetric community could develop tools to utilize Twitter to disseminate valid health information could be beneficial. PMID:27466002

Reaction on Twitter to a Cluster of Perinatal Deaths: A Mixed Method Study.

PubMed

Meaney, Sarah; Cussen, Leanne; Greene, Richard A; O'Donoghue, Keelin

2016-07-27

Participation in social networking sites is commonplace and the micro-blogging site Twitter can be considered a platform for the rapid broadcasting of news stories. The aim of this study was to explore the Twitter status updates and subsequent responses relating to a number of perinatal deaths which occurred in a small maternity unit in Ireland. An analysis of Twitter status updates, over a two month period from January to March 2014, was undertaken to identify the key themes arising in relation to the perinatal deaths. Our search identified 3577 tweets relating to the reported perinatal deaths. At the height of the controversy, Twitter updates generated skepticism in relation to the management of not only of the unit in question, which was branded as unsafe, but also the governance of the entire Irish maternity service. Themes of concern and uncertainty arose whereby the professional motives of the obstetric community and staffing levels in the maternity services were called into question. Twitter activity provides a useful insight into attitudes towards health-related events. The role of the media in influencing opinion is well-documented and this study underscores the challenges that clinicians face in light of an obstetric media scandal. Further study to identify how the obstetric community could develop tools to utilize Twitter to disseminate valid health information could be beneficial.

Spanish Adaptation of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD-S) in Nursing Undergraduates.

PubMed

Edo-Gual, Montserrat; Tomás-Sábado, Joaquín; Gómez-Benito, Juana; Monforte-Royo, Cristina; Aradilla-Herrero, Amor

2017-01-01

The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) is designed to assess the attitudes of professionals and trainees toward caring for the dying patient and their family members. In this study the main aim is to adapt the FATCOD to a Spanish context (FATCOD-S). In addition, the relations between FATCOD-S, sociodemographic variables, emotional intelligence, and death attitudes have been analyzed. A sample of 669 Spanish nursing students from four Universities responded to a questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) concludes a structure composed of two significant factors. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out. The CFA supported a two-factor model. Students with past experience of death and those who had received training in palliative care scored significantly higher on both factors of the FATCOD-S ( p < 0.01). The FATCOD-S is an effective and valid tool for measuring the attitudes of Spanish nursing students toward caring for patients at the end of life.

The desire to hasten death: Using Grounded Theory for a better understanding "When perception of time tends to be a slippery slope".

PubMed

Pestinger, Martina; Stiel, Stephanie; Elsner, Frank; Widdershoven, Guy; Voltz, Raymond; Nauck, Friedemann; Radbruch, Lukas

2015-09-01

Some patients with advanced and progressive diseases express a desire to hasten death. This study evaluated the motivations of patients expressing such a desire in a country with prohibitive legislation on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. A modified form of Grounded Theory was used. Patients from the departments of palliative medicine in three hospitals in Germany were recruited when they had made a statement or request to hasten death. Participants were interviewed face to face. Recruitment was stopped with 12 participants because of data saturation. Thematic analysis revealed three main motivational themes: self-determination, agony, and time. Expectations toward health professionals, attitudes toward death, and secureness related to the end of life were additional main themes emerging from the analysis. The desire to hasten death may be used as an extreme coping strategy to maintain control against anticipated agony. Patients expected health professionals to listen to and respect their experiences. Emerging hypotheses included the following: (a) patients try to balance life time and anticipated agony, and the perception of time is distressing in this balancing act; (b) anticipated images of agony and suffering in the dying process occur frequently and are experienced by patients as intrusive; (c) patients expressing a desire to hasten death are in need of more information about the dying process; and (d) patients wanted their caregivers to listen to and respect their wish to hasten death, and they did not expect the caregivers to understand this as an order to actually hasten their death. © The Author(s) 2015.

A SURVEY OF DEATH ADJUSTMENT IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT.

PubMed

Hossain, Mohammad Samir; Irfan, Muhammad; Balhara, Yatan Pal Singh; Giasuddin, Noor Ahmed; Sultana, Syeda Naheed

2015-01-01

The Death Adjustment Hypothesis (DAH) postulates two key themes. Its first part postulates that death should not be considered the end of existence and the second part emphasizes that the belief in immortal pattern of human existence can only be adopted in a morally rich life with the attitude towards morality and materialism balanced mutually. We wanted to explore Death Adjustment in the Indian subcontinent and the differences among, Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. We also wanted to find the relationship between death adjustment (i.e., adaptation to death), materialistic thoughts and death adjustment thoughts. This was a cross-sectional study, conducted from May 2010 to June 2013. Using a purposive sampling strategy, a sample of 296 participants from the Indian subcontinent [Pakistan (n=100), Bangladesh (n=98) and India (n=98)] was selected. Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS) was used to measure death adjustment. The rest of the variables were measured using lists of respective thoughts, described in elaborated DAH. Analyses were carried out using SPSSv13. The mean death adjustment score for Pakistani, Indian and Bangaldeshi population were 115.26 +/- 26.4, 125.87 +/- 24.3 and 114.91 +/- 21.2, respectively. Death adjustment was better with older age (r=0.20) and with lower scores on materialistic thoughts (r = -0.26). However, this was a weak relation. The three nationalities were compared with each other by using Analysis of variance. Death adjustment thoughts and death adjustment were significantly different when Indians were compared with Bangladeshis (p=0.00) and Pakistanis (p=0.006) but comparison between Bangladeshis and Pakistanis showed no significant difference. Subjects with lesser materialistic thoughts showed better death adjustment. There are differences between Muslims and non-Muslims in adjusting to death.

Euthanasia on trial: examining public attitudes toward non-physician-assisted death.

PubMed

Pfeifer, J E; Brigham, J C; Robinson, T

1996-01-01

This study investigated the influence of various contextual effects on the decisions of subjects evaluating a case of nonphysician-assisted suicide. Subjects viewed a videotaped deposition of an individual emotionally or nonemotionally describing how he assisted in the death of his terminally ill wife by disconnecting her respirator or shooting her in the head. The deposition was followed by jury instructions that outlined the duties of the subject and, in some cases, was followed by a nullification instruction that informed the subjects of their right to ignore the law in this case if they felt it would culminate in an unfair verdict. After viewing the videotape, subjects were asked to rate the guilt of the individual as well as their confidence in this rating. Results indicate that the means of death and the type of instruction significantly affect guilt ratings. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Students' Attitudes Toward Cancer: Changes in Medical School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haley, Harold B.; And Others

1977-01-01

Considered were attitudes toward (1) the patient's inner resources to cope with a serious illness such as cancer, (2) the value of early diagnosis, and (3) the value of aggressive treatment, as well as the belief in immortality and preparation for and acceptance of death. Changes occurred throughout medical school, especially during the clinical…

[Guilt and aggression in children after the death of a relative].

PubMed

Hayez, J Y

2001-11-01

Children may feel guilty about the death of a close relative. The reasons are analyzed: in most cases guilty feelings remain unjustified. Consequent changes in the child's behavior are described, including aggressivity, depressive symptoms and regression. A preventive comprehensive attitude of the surviving family circle will help children to overcome these feelings.

Nurses' attitudes to terminally ill patients.

PubMed

Román, E M; Sorribes, E; Ezquerro, O

2001-05-01

The care of terminally ill patients is a challenge for nurses that has raised special interest in recent years. Several studies have shown a stereotyped negative attitude in nurses towards terminally ill patients. However, all have used methods with several limitations. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to identify the nurses' attitude to the terminally ill patient in Catalonia, Spain, and the relationship of this attitude to different socio-demographic data (type of centre, shift, years of experience, age and sex) by means of a new quantitative method based on the free word-association test. One hundred and seventy-five nurses working in 18 hospitals and hospices in Catalonia, Spain were included in the study. Data were analysed by the Associative Semantic Field Differential method by means of the computer programme CONTEXT and a quantitative evaluation of the degree of attitudes positivity was obtained. The study revealed a general slight negative trend in attitudes towards the terminally ill patient. A more positive attitude was observed in older caregivers and in women. The positivity in attitude decreased from morning to night shift. No differences were observed between nurses working in hospitals and those working in hospices. We conclude that nursing attitudes can be analysed by methods such as that used in this study. Attempts can be made to modify this attitude in caregivers by means of training programmes and stimulating awareness of an adequate professional approach.

Assessing Knowledge of, and Attitudes to, HIV/AIDS among University Students in the United Arab Emirates.

PubMed

Haroun, Dalia; El Saleh, Ola; Wood, Lesley; Mechli, Rola; Al Marzouqi, Nada; Anouti, Samir

2016-01-01

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is among the top two regions in the world with the fastest growing HIV epidemic. In this context, risks and vulnerability are high as the epidemic is on the rise with evidence indicating significantly increasing HIV prevalence, new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. The aim of the survey was to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS among a wide group of university students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a cross-sectional survey, a total sample of 2,294 students (406 male; 1,888 female) from four universities in three different Emirates in the UAE were approached to take part in the study. Students self-completed a questionnaire that was designed to measure their knowledge and attitudes to HIV/AIDS. The overall average knowledge score of HIV.AIDS was 61%. Non-Emirati and postgraduates demonstrated higher levels of knowledge compared to Emirati and undergraduate students respectively. No significant differences between males and females; and marital status were found. Eighty-five percent of students expressed negative attitudes towards people living with HIV, with Emirati and single students significantly holding more negative attitudes compared to non-Emiratis and those that are married respectively. The findings provide strong evidence that there is a need to advocate for appropriate National HIV/AIDS awareness raising campaigns in universities to reduce the gaps in knowledge and decrease stigmatizing attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS.

Can education alter attitudes, behaviour and knowledge about organ donation? A pretest–post-test study

PubMed Central

McGlade, Donal; Pierscionek, Barbara

2013-01-01

Objective The emergence of evidence suggests that student nurses commonly exhibit concerns about their lack of knowledge of organ donation and transplantation. Formal training about organ donation has been shown to positively influence attitude, encourage communication and registration behaviours and improve knowledge about donor eligibility and brain death. The focus of this study was to determine the attitude and behaviour of student nurses and to assess their level of knowledge about organ donation after a programme of study. Design A quantitative questionnaire was completed before and after participation in a programme of study using a pretest–post-test design. Setting Participants were recruited from a University based in Northern Ireland during the period from February to April 2011. Participants 100 preregistration nurses (female : male=96 : 4) aged 18–50 years (mean (SD) 24.3 (6.0) years) were recruited. Results Participants’ knowledge improved over the programme of study with regard to the suitability of organs that can be donated after death, methods available to register organ donation intentions, organ donation laws, concept of brain death and the likelihood of recovery after brain death. Changes in attitude postintervention were also observed in relation to participants’ willingness to accept an informed system of consent and with regard to participants’ actual discussion behaviour. Conclusions The results provide support for the introduction of a programme that helps inform student nurses about important aspects of organ donation. PMID:24381257

Violence-Related Attitudes and Beliefs: Scale Construction and Psychometrics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brand, Pamela A.; Anastasio, Phyllis A.

2006-01-01

The 50-item Violence-Related Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (V-RABS) includes three subscales measuring possible causes of violent behavior (environmental influences, biological influences, and mental illness) and four subscales assessing possible controls of violent behavior (death penalty, punishment, prevention, and catharsis). Each subscale…

Death Penalty Decisions: Instruction Comprehension, Attitudes, and Decision Mediators.

PubMed

Patry, Marc W; Penrod, Steven D

2013-01-01

A primary goal of this research was to empirically evaluate a set of assumptions, advanced in the Supreme Court's ruling in Buchanan v. Angelone (1998), about jury comprehension of death penalty instructions. Further, this research examined the use of evidence in capital punishment decision making by exploring underlying mediating factors upon which death penalty decisions may be based. Manipulated variables included the type of instructions and several variations of evidence. Study 1 was a paper and pencil study of 245 undergraduate mock jurors. The experimental design was an incomplete 4×2×2×2×2 factorial model resulting in 56 possible conditions. Manipulations included four different types of instructions, presence of a list of case-specific mitigators to accompany the instructions, and three variations in the case facts: age of the defendant, bad prior record, and defendant history of emotional abuse. Study 2 was a fully-crossed 2×2×2×2×2 experiment with four deliberating mock juries per cell. Manipulations included jury instructions (original or revised), presence of a list of case-specific mitigators, defendant history of emotional abuse, bad prior record, and heinousness of the crime. The sample of 735 jury-eligible participants included 130 individuals who identified themselves as students. Participants watched one of 32 stimulus videotapes based on a replication of a capital sentencing hearing. The present findings support previous research showing low comprehension of capital penalty instructions. Further, we found that higher instruction comprehension was associated with higher likelihood of issuing life sentence decisions. The importance of instruction comprehension is emphasized in a social cognitive model of jury decision making at the sentencing phase of capital cases.

Mental Health Nurses Attitudes and Practice Toward Physical Health Care in Jordan.

PubMed

Ganiah, Amal N; Al-Hussami, Mahmoud; Alhadidi, Majdi M B

2017-08-01

Patients with mental illnesses are at high risk for physical disorders and death. The aim of this study is to describe mental health nurses' attitudes and practice toward physical health care for patients with mental illnesses. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to collect data using self- reported questionnaire from 202 mental health nurses working in mental health settings in Jordan. The study adopted translated version of Robson and Haddad Physical Health Attitudes Scale to the Arabic language. There was significant positive correlation between the participants' positive attitudes and their current practice (r = .388, p = .000), mental health nurses who have more positive attitudes regarding physical health care involved physical health care more in their current practice. Mental health nurses' attitudes affect the quality of care provided to patients with mental illnesses. The results provide implications for practice, education, and research.

The Issue of Death and Dying: Employing Problem-Based Learning in Nursing Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mok, Esther; Lee, Wai Man; Wong, Frances Kam-yuet

2002-01-01

Hong Kong nursing students used journals to problem-based learning (PBL) related to dying patients. Increased self-awareness, positive attitude toward death, and culturally sensitive care resulted. PBL methods included information searches, interviews with experts and patients, and tutorials for sharing feelings and information. (Contains 21…

Evaluation of the children with beta-thalassemia in terms of their self-concept, behavioral, and parental attitudes.

PubMed

Yalçn, Siddika Songül; Durmuşoğlu-Sendoğdu, Mine; Gümrük, Fatma; Unal, Selma; Karg, Eda; Tuğrul, Belma

2007-08-01

This study was planned to explore the self-concept, behavioral, and parental attitudes of the children with beta-thalassemia major, and the factors that affect them. The study was undertaken between January and June 2004 at the Hacettepe University Ihsan Doğramaci Children's Hospital, Pediatric Hematology Unit, Ankara and 43 voluntary children with beta-thalassemia major on regular blood transfusion and iron chelation treatment between the ages of 5.0 and 18.0 years were included into the study. Age, sex, birth order, school performance, hemoglobin value, serum ferritin levels, associated illness, splenectomy status, presence of thalassemic sibling or relatives, death of thalassemic relatives, place of residence, maternal and paternal education were recorded. Parental Attitude Research Instrument, Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale, and Child Behavior Checklist were applied. Higher educated mothers have lower overprotection (P=0.009), parental discordance (P=0.044), and discipline scores (P=0.002) than lower educated mothers. In cases with death of thalassemic relatives, democratic/equality attitude scores were decreased (P=0.034). With stepwise multiple linear regression analysis, splenectomy, good school achievement, absence of death of thalassemic relatives, and serum ferritin levels were found to increase Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale; however, total behavior problem score was found to decrease with increasing age, splenectomy and decreasing overprotection subscale of Parental Attitude Research Instrument scores. The self-esteem and behavior problems of children with thalassemia depended not only on the variables related exclusively to the child (age, school achievement) and the illness-associated conditions (splenectomy, serum ferritin levels) but also on the parental attitude (overprotection).

Brain death revisited: it is not 'complete death' according to Islamic sources.

PubMed

Bedir, Ahmet; Aksoy, Sahin

2011-05-01

Concepts, such as death, life and spirit cannot be known in their quintessential nature, but can be defined in accordance with their effects. In fact, those who think within the mode of pragmatism and Cartesian logic have ignored the metaphysical aspects of these terms. According to Islam, the entity that moves the body is named the soul. And the aliment of the soul is air. Cessation of breathing means leaving of the soul from the body. Those who agree on the diagnosis of brain death may not able to agree unanimously on the rules that lay down such diagnosis. That is to say, there are a heap of suspicions regarding the diagnosis of brain death, and these suspicions are on the increase. In fact, Islamic jurisprudence does not put provisions, decisions on suspicious grounds. By virtue of these facts, it can be asserted that brain death is not absolute death according to Islamic sources; for in the patients diagnosed with brain death the soul still has not abandoned the body. Therefore, these patients suffer in every operation performed on them.

Attitudes and attitude change.

PubMed

Petty, R E; Wegener, D T; Fabrigar, L R

1997-01-01

We review empirical and conceptual developments over the past four years (1992-1995) on attitudes and persuasion. A voluminous amount of material was produced concerning attitude structure, attitude change, and the consequences of holding attitudes. In the structure area, particular attention is paid to work on attitude accessibility, ambivalence, and the affective versus cognitive bases of attitudes. In persuasion, our review examines research that has focused on high effort cognitive processes (central route), low effort processes (peripheral route), and the multiple roles by which variables can have an impact on attitudes. Special emphasis is given to work on cognitive dissonance and other biases in message processing, and on the multiple processes by which mood influences evaluations. Work on the consequences of attitudes focuses on the impact of attitudes on behavior and social judgments.

Death Penalty Decisions: Instruction Comprehension, Attitudes, and Decision Mediators

PubMed Central

Patry, Marc W.; Penrod, Steven D.

2013-01-01

A primary goal of this research was to empirically evaluate a set of assumptions, advanced in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Buchanan v. Angelone (1998), about jury comprehension of death penalty instructions. Further, this research examined the use of evidence in capital punishment decision making by exploring underlying mediating factors upon which death penalty decisions may be based. Manipulated variables included the type of instructions and several variations of evidence. Study 1 was a paper and pencil study of 245 undergraduate mock jurors. The experimental design was an incomplete 4×2×2×2×2 factorial model resulting in 56 possible conditions. Manipulations included four different types of instructions, presence of a list of case-specific mitigators to accompany the instructions, and three variations in the case facts: age of the defendant, bad prior record, and defendant history of emotional abuse. Study 2 was a fully-crossed 2×2×2×2×2 experiment with four deliberating mock juries per cell. Manipulations included jury instructions (original or revised), presence of a list of case-specific mitigators, defendant history of emotional abuse, bad prior record, and heinousness of the crime. The sample of 735 jury-eligible participants included 130 individuals who identified themselves as students. Participants watched one of 32 stimulus videotapes based on a replication of a capital sentencing hearing. The present findings support previous research showing low comprehension of capital penalty instructions. Further, we found that higher instruction comprehension was associated with higher likelihood of issuing life sentence decisions. The importance of instruction comprehension is emphasized in a social cognitive model of jury decision making at the sentencing phase of capital cases. PMID:24072981

Health Care Professionals' Attitudes About Physician-Assisted Death: An Analysis of Their Justifications and the Roles of Terminology and Patient Competency.

PubMed

Braverman, Derek W; Marcus, Brian S; Wakim, Paul G; Mercurio, Mark R; Kopf, Gary S

2017-10-01

Health care professionals (HCPs) are crucial to physician-assisted death (PAD) provision. To quantitatively assess the favorability of justifications for or against PAD legalization among HCPs, the effect of the terms "suicide" and "euthanasia" on their views and their support for three forms of PAD. Our questionnaire presented three cases: physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia for a competent patient, and euthanasia for an incompetent patient with an advance directive for euthanasia. Respondents judged whether each case was ethical and should be legal and selected their justifications from commonly cited reasons. The sample included physician clinicians, researchers, nonphysician clinicians, and other nonclinical staff at a major academic medical center. Of 221 HCPs, the majority thought that each case was ethical and should be legal. In order of declining favorability, justifications supporting PAD legalization were relief of suffering, right to die, mercy, acceptance of death, nonabandonment, and saving money for the health care system; opposing justifications were the slippery slope argument, unnecessary due to palliative care, killing patients is wrong, religious views, and suicide is wrong. The use of suicide and euthanasia terminology did not affect responses. Participants preferred physician-assisted suicide to euthanasia for a competent patient (P < 0.0001) and euthanasia for an incompetent patient to euthanasia for a competent patient (P < 0.005). HCPs endorsed patient-centered justifications over other reasons, including role-specific duties. Suicide and euthanasia language did not bias HCPs against PAD, challenging claims that such value-laden terms hinder dialogue. More research is required to understand the significance of competency in shaping attitudes toward PAD. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Facing Up to Death

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Elizabeth Kubler

1972-01-01

Doctor urges that Americans accept death as a part of life and suggests ways of helping dying patients and their families face reality calmly, with peace. Dying children and their siblings, as well as children's feelings about relatives' deaths, are also discussed. (PD)

Social security survivors benefits: the effects of reproductive pathways and intestacy law on attitudes.

PubMed

Hans, Jason D; Gillen, Martie

2013-01-01

Most minor children are eligible for Social Security survivors benefits if a wage-earning parent dies, but eligibility of children not in utero at the time of death is more nuanced. The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes concerning access to Social Security survivors benefits in the context of posthumous reproduction. A probability sample of 540 Florida households responded to a multiple-segment factorial vignette designed to examine the effects of state intestacy laws and five reproductive pathways - normative, posthumous birth, cryopreserved embryo, cryopreserved gametes, and posthumous gamete retrieval - on attitudes toward eligibility for the Social Security survivors benefits. Broad support was found for the survivors benefits following normative and posthumous birth pathways, but attitudes were decidedly less favorable when the child was not in utero at the time of parental death. In addition, in stark contrast to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Astrue v. Capato, the vast majority of respondents did not believe state intestacy laws should determine eligibility for Social Security survivors benefits. © 2013 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Attitudes and attitude change.

PubMed

Bohner, Gerd; Dickel, Nina

2011-01-01

Attitudes and attitude change remain core topics of contemporary social psychology. This selective review emphasizes work published from 2005 to 2009. It addresses constructionist and stable-entity conceptualizations of attitude, the distinction between implicit and explicit measures of attitude, and implications of the foregoing for attitude change. Associative and propositional processes in attitude change are considered at a general level and in relation to evaluative conditioning. The role of bodily states and physical perceptions in attitude change is reviewed. This is followed by an integrative perspective on processing models of persuasion and the consideration of meta-cognitions in persuasion. Finally, effects of attitudes on information processing, social memory, and behavior are highlighted. Core themes cutting across the areas reviewed are attempts at integrative theorizing bringing together formerly disparate phenomena and viewpoints.

Assessing Knowledge of, and Attitudes to, HIV/AIDS among University Students in the United Arab Emirates

PubMed Central

Haroun, Dalia; El Saleh, Ola; Wood, Lesley; Mechli, Rola; Al Marzouqi, Nada; Anouti, Samir

2016-01-01

Background The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is among the top two regions in the world with the fastest growing HIV epidemic. In this context, risks and vulnerability are high as the epidemic is on the rise with evidence indicating significantly increasing HIV prevalence, new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. Objective The aim of the survey was to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes related to HIV/AIDS among a wide group of university students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods In a cross-sectional survey, a total sample of 2,294 students (406 male; 1,888 female) from four universities in three different Emirates in the UAE were approached to take part in the study. Students self-completed a questionnaire that was designed to measure their knowledge and attitudes to HIV/AIDS. Results The overall average knowledge score of HIV.AIDS was 61%. Non-Emirati and postgraduates demonstrated higher levels of knowledge compared to Emirati and undergraduate students respectively. No significant differences between males and females; and marital status were found. Eighty-five percent of students expressed negative attitudes towards people living with HIV, with Emirati and single students significantly holding more negative attitudes compared to non-Emiratis and those that are married respectively. Conclusions The findings provide strong evidence that there is a need to advocate for appropriate National HIV/AIDS awareness raising campaigns in universities to reduce the gaps in knowledge and decrease stigmatizing attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS. PMID:26913902

'Natural' and 'Unnatural' medical deaths and coronial law: A UK and international review of the medical literature on natural and unnatural death and how it applies to medical death certification and reporting deaths to coroners: Natural/Unnatural death: A Scientific Review.

PubMed

Harris, Andrew

2017-07-01

In the United Kingdom, when people die, either a doctor writes an acceptable natural cause of death medical certificate, or a coroner (fiscal in Scotland) investigates the case, usually with an autopsy. An inquest may or may not follow. The concept of 'natural or unnatural cause' death is not internationally standardized. This article reviews scientific evidence as to what is a natural death or unnatural death and how that relates to the international classification of deaths. Whilst there is some consensus on the definition, its application in considering whether to report to the coroner is more difficult. Depictions of deaths in terminal care, medical emergencies and post-operative care highlight these difficulties. It secondly reviews to what extent natural and unnatural are criteria for notification of deaths in England and Wales and internationally. It concludes with consideration of how medical concepts of unnatural death relate in England and Wales to coroners' legal concepts of what is unnatural. Deaths that appear natural to clinicians and pathologists may be legally unnatural and vice versa. It is argued that the natural/unnatural dichotomy is not a good criterion for reporting deaths under medical care to coroners, but the notification of a medical cause of death, using the International Classification of Disease Codes and the medical professional view as to whether it is scientifically natural, is of great value to the coroner in deciding whether it is legally unnatural.

Instructional strategies to improve women's attitudes toward science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newbill, Phyllis Leary

Although negative attitudes toward science are common among women and men in undergraduate introductory science classes, women's attitudes toward science tend to be more negative than men's. The reasons for women's negative attitudes toward science include lack of self-confidence, fear of association with social outcasts, lack of women role models in science, and the fundamental differences between traditional scientific and feminist values. Attitudes are psychological constructs theorized to be composed of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. Attitudes serve functions, including social expressive, value expressive, utilitarian, and defensive functions, for the people who hold them. To change attitudes, the new attitudes must serve the same function as the old one, and all three components must be treated. Instructional designers can create instructional environments to effect attitude change. In designing instruction to improve women's attitudes toward science, instructional designers should (a) address the emotions that are associated with existing attitudes, (b) involve credible, attractive women role models, and (c) address the functions of the existing attitudes. Two experimental instructional modules were developed based on these recommendations, and two control modules were developed that were not based on these recommendations. The asynchronous, web-based modules were administered to 281 undergraduate geology and chemistry students at two universities. Attitude assessment revealed that attitudes toward scientists improved significantly more in the experimental group, although there was no significant difference in overall attitudes toward science. Women's attitudes improved significantly more than men's in both the experimental and control groups. Students whose attitudes changed wrote significantly more in journaling activities associated with the modules. Qualitative analysis of journals revealed that the guidelines worked exactly as predicted

Cultural implications of death and loss from AIDS among women in South Africa.

PubMed

Iwelunmor, Juliet; Airhihenbuwa, Collins O

2012-02-01

Over 1.8 million people have died of AIDS in South Africa, and it continues to be a death sentence for many women. The purpose of this study was to examine the broader context of death and loss from HIV/AIDS and to identify the cultural factors that influenced existing beliefs and attitudes. The participants included 110 women recruited from 3 communities in South Africa. Focus group methodology was used to explore their perceptions surrounding death and loss from HIV/AIDS. Using the PEN-3 cultural model, our findings revealed that there were positive perceptions related to how women cope and respond to death and loss from HIV/AIDS. Findings also revealed existential responses and negative perceptions that strongly influence how women make sense of increasing death and loss from HIV/AIDS. In the advent of rising death and loss from HIV/AIDS, particularly among women, interventions aimed at reducing negative perceptions while increasing positive and existential perceptions are needed. These interventions should be tailored to reflect the cultural factors associated with HIV/AIDS.

You have no Choice but to go on: How Physicians and Midwives in Ghana Cope with High Rates of Perinatal Death.

PubMed

Petrites, Alissa D; Mullan, Patricia; Spangenberg, Kathryn; Gold, Katherine J

2016-07-01

Objectives Healthcare providers in low-resource settings confront high rates of perinatal mortality. How providers cope with such challenges can affect their well-being and patient care; we therefore sought to understand how physicians and midwives make sense of and cope with these deaths. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with midwives, obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians and trainee physicians at a large teaching hospital in Kumasi, Ghana. Interviews focused on participants' coping strategies surrounding perinatal death. We identified themes from interview transcripts using qualitative content analysis. Results Thirty-six participants completed the study. Themes from the transcripts revealed a continuum of control/self-efficacy and engagement with the deaths. Providers demonstrated a commitment to push on with their work and provide the best care possible. In select cases, they described the transformative power of attitude and sought to be agents of change. Conclusions Physicians and midwives in a low-resource country in sub-Saharan Africa showed remarkable resiliency in coping with perinatal death. Still, future work should focus on training clinicians in coping and strengthening their self-efficacy and engagement.

Performing the good death: the medieval Ars moriendi and contemporary doctors.

PubMed

Thornton, K; Phillips, C B

2009-12-01

Death is inevitable, but dying well is not. Despite the role of medical professionals as overseers of dying in contemporary society, there is comparatively little discourse among doctors about the constituents of a good death. In the 15th century, by contrast, the Ars moriendi portrayed normative medieval ideas about good and bad deaths. At a time when dying could be viewed as a performed battle against damnation, the Ars moriendi codified a set of moral precepts that governed the expression of autonomy, relations between the dying and the living and orientation towards God. In these images, dying well is a moral activity that results from active decisions by the dying person to turn from earthly preoccupations to contemplation of, and submission to, the divine. It is likely in contemporary society that there is a range of understandings of the "good death". While attitudes to personal autonomy may differ, reflectiveness and dying at home in the presence of family (expressed in the Ars moriendi), remain part of many modern notions of the good death. We argue that medical institutions continue to construct death as a performed battle against physical debility, even when patients may have different views of their preferred deaths. The dialectic approach of the Ars moriendi may offer a way for contemporary doctors to reflect critically on the potential dissonance between their own approach to death and the variety of culturally valorised "good deaths".

Teaching about Death to Undergraduates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pine, Vanderlyn R.; And Others

Development, implementation, and teaching of a college-level course on dying and death are described. The authors review their own experiences in becoming involved with death education and describe teaching methods, problems, and content of their current course in dying and death at the State University of New York, College at New Paltz. Because…

East Asian Attitudes toward Death— A Search for the Ways to Help East Asian Elderly Dying in Contemporary America

PubMed Central

Lee, Sok K

2009-01-01

The art of dying well has been a quintessential subject of ethicoreligious matters among the people in the West and the East. Most of us wish to die at home; however, about 50% of Americans die in acute care hospitals. Furthermore, immigrants from East Asian cultures feel more uncomfortable near death, because their physicians are not familiar with their traditions. This article is written to help American physicians understand the unique aspects of East Asian Confucian Ethics for the better care of the dying elderly. Western attitudes toward death are briefly reviewed and the six East Asian concepts related to death are elaborated from Confucian Chinese philosophy. To widen the horizon of bioethics and to embrace the Confucian wisdom of dying well, three pearls of wisdom from classical Confucianism are proposed: the relational autonomy of family, Confucian creative self-transformation, and the unity of transcendence and the human being. PMID:20740092

Anxiety, helplessness/hopelessness and 'desire for hastened death' in Korean cancer patients.

PubMed

Shim, E-J; Hahm, B-J

2011-05-01

Despite a relatively high rate of suicide associated with cancer, this issue has not been explored in Korean patients. This study investigates the prevalence and factors related to 'the desire for hastened death' (DHD) in Korean cancer patients. A cross-sectional survey using standardised measures, including the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, was performed with 131 patients with different types of cancer. 13.7% of the participants experienced moderate DHD (Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death scores 5-9) and 1.7% experienced high DHD (≥10). Socio-demographic and disease-associated factors of the DHD included age, overall health and shortness of breath. The majority of psychosocial variables such as sadness, distress, 'helplessness/hopelessness' and 'anxious preoccupation' had a moderate association with DHD. Patients with a clinically significant level of anxiety or depression reported higher levels of DHD. Other significant correlates included 'meaning/peace', a sense of burdening family, dignity impairment and suicidal thoughts after diagnosis. Helplessness/hopelessness and anxiety were the strongest predictors of DHD in multivariate analysis. In view of significant role of helplessness/hopelessness and anxiety in the DHD of cancer patients, careful monitoring and management of these factors should be an integral part of cancer care to reduce the occurrence of DHD. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Attitudes and Attitude Change.

PubMed

Albarracin, Dolores; Shavitt, Sharon

2018-01-04

This review covers research on attitudes and attitude change published between 2010 and 2017. We characterize this period as one of significant progress toward an understanding of how attitudes form and change in three critical contexts. The first context is the person, as attitudes change in connection to values, general goals, language, emotions, and human development. The second context is social relationships, which link attitude change to the communicator of persuasive messages, social media, and culture. The third context is sociohistorical and highlights the influence of unique events, including sociopolitical, economic, and climatic occurrences. In conclusion, many important recent findings reflect the fact that holism, with a focus on situating attitudes within their personal, social, and historical contexts, has become the zeitgeist of attitude research during this period.

Comparing the National Death Index and the Social Security Administration's Death Master File to ascertain death in HIV surveillance.

PubMed

Hanna, David B; Pfeiffer, Melissa R; Sackoff, Judith E; Selik, Richard M; Begier, Elizabeth M; Torian, Lucia V

2009-01-01

New York City (NYC) maintains a population-based registry of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection to monitor the epidemic and inform resource allocation. We evaluated record linkages with the National Death Index (NDI) and the Social Security Administration's Death Master File (SSDMF) to find deaths occurring from 2000 through 2004. We linked records from 32,837 people reported with HIV and not previously known to be dead with deaths reported in the NDI and the SSDMF. We calculated the kappa statistic to assess agreement between data sources. We performed subgroup analyses to assess differences within demographic and transmission risk subpopulations. We quantified the benefit of linkages with each data source beyond prior death ascertainment from local vital statistics data. We discovered 1,926 (5.87%) deaths, which reduced the HIV prevalence estimate in NYC by 2.03%, from 1.19% to 1.16%. Of these, 458 (23.78%) were identified only from NDI, and 305 (15.84%) only from SSDMF. Agreement in ascertainment between sources was substantial (kappa = [K] 0.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.72, 0.76); agreement was lower among Hispanic people (K = 0.65, 95% CI 0.62, 0.69) and people born outside the U.S. (K = 0.60, 95% CI 0.52, 0.68). We identified an additional 13.62% of deaths to people reported with HIV in NYC; white people and men who have sex with men were disproportionately likely to be underascertained without these linkages (p < 0.0001). Record linkages with national databases are essential for accurate prevalence estimates from disease registries, and the SSDMF is an inexpensive means to supplement linkages with the NDI to maximize death ascertainment.

[Organ donation after death in Moroccan population].

PubMed

Esqalli, Imane; Knidiri, Hafssa; Mahoungou, Gael; Aitlahcen, Zineb; Fadili, Wafaa; Laouad, Inass

2015-07-01

Morocco stays far behind other countries in the domain of organ donation and transplantation. Improving the knowledge of Moroccan students, about organ donation and transplantation, can be a key factor in the development of transplant activity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of students concerning organ donation and transplantation. The opinion survey was conducted in Marrakech city, with four high education structures with a pre-established questionnaire. The survey questions answered four main themes, which are: the evaluation of knowledge, the opinion and attitude of citizen, the explanation of refusal and the propositions to encourage organ donation in Morocco. Hundred percent of surveyed subjects answered the questionnaire. Among them, 40.3% were men. The middle age was 21.5 years. Out of 503 surveyed students, 89.4% were aware of organ transplant in Morocco. A quarter of students believed that removal and transplant acts were realized just in public health establishments, which have the authorization. Two persons out of 3 were able to identify transplantable organs and tissues. More than half accepted to donate their organs after death. The religious reason was in the head list of refusal determinants of organ donation after death, with a prevalence of 39.7%. Young Moroccans have limited knowledge relating to organ donation. The development of this therapy needs to establish an adequate project of information and motivation of general population. Copyright © 2015 Association Société de néphrologie. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Virtual TeamSTEPPS(®) Simulations Produce Teamwork Attitude Changes Among Health Professions Students.

PubMed

Sweigart, Linda I; Umoren, Rachel A; Scott, Patrician J; Carlton, Kay Hodson; Jones, James A; Truman, Barbara; Gossett, Evalyn J

2016-01-01

The majority of the estimated 400,000 or more patient deaths per year in the United States are from preventable medical errors due to poor communication. Team training programs have been established to teach teamwork skills to health professions students. However, it is often challenging to provide this training at a physical site. A brief intervention using a virtual learning environment with TeamSTEPPS(®)-based scenarios is described. Using a pretest-posttest design, the effects on teamwork attitudes in 109 health professional students from two institutions and multiple disciplines were measured using the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes questionnaire. Participants showed significant attitude changes in the categories of leadership, situation monitoring, mutual support, and communication (p ⩽ .05), with significance in four of the six indicator attitudes in the communication section at the p ⩽ .001 level. These findings indicate the potential impact that virtual learning experiences may have on teamwork attitudes in learners across professions on multiple campuses. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

Knowledge and attitude towards organ donation of medicine students of a Northwestern Mexico public university

PubMed

Sebastián-Ruiz, María José; Guerra-Sáenz, Elda Karina; Vargas-Yamanaka, Anna Karen; Barboza-Quintana, Oralia; Ríos-Zambudio, Antonio; García-Cabello, Ricardo; Palacios-Saucedo, Gerardo Del Carmen

2017-01-01

To evaluate the knowledge and attitude towards organ donation of medicine students of a Northwestern Mexico public university. A prolective, descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study. A 34 items cross-sectional survey evaluating knowledge and attitude towards organ donation in 3,056 medicine students during 2013-2015. Descriptive statistics were used as absolute frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation, as well as the Chi-square test. A p < 0.05 was considered significant. 74% of students would donate their own organs, mainly due to reciprocity (41%). 26% of students would not donate, 48% of them because of fear that their organs could be taken before death. 86% would donate organs from a relative. 64% have spoken about organ donation and transplantation with their family and 67% with friends. 50% said they had received no information about it. 68% understand the concept of brain death. Students received little information about organ donation during college. Despite that, most of them showed a positive attitude and are willing to donate. Copyright: © 2017 SecretarÍa de Salud

Attitudes towards legalising physician provided euthanasia in Britain: the role of religion over time.

PubMed

Danyliv, Andriy; O'Neill, Ciaran

2015-03-01

Hastening the death of another whether through assisted suicide or euthanasia is the subject of intense debate in the UK and elsewhere. In this paper we use a nationally representative survey of public attitudes - the British Social Attitudes survey - to examine changes in attitudes to the legalisation of physician provided euthanasia (PPE) over almost 30 years (1983-2012) and the role of religious beliefs and religiosity in attitudes over time. Compatible questions about attitudes to euthanasia were available in the six years of 1983, 1984, 1989, 1994, 2005, and 2012. We study the trends in the support for legalisation through these time points and the relationship between attitudes, religious denomination and religiosity, controlling for a series of covariates. In total, 8099 individuals provided answers to the question about PPE in the six years of the study. The support for legalisation rose from around 76.95% in 1983 to 83.86% in 2012. This coincided with an increase in secularisation exhibited in the survey: the percentage of people with no religious affiliation increasing from 31% to 45.4% and those who do not attend a religious institution (e.g. church) increasing from 55.7% to 65.03%. The multivariate analysis demonstrates that religious affiliation and religiosity as measured by religious institution attendance frequency are the main contributors to attitudes towards euthanasia, and that the main increase in support happened among the group with least religious affiliation. Other socio-demographic characteristics do not seem to alter these attitudes systematically across the years. Our study demonstrates an increase in the support of euthanasia legalisation in Britain in the last 30 years coincided with increased secularisation. It does not follow, however, that trends in public support are immutable nor that a change in the law would improve on the current pragmatic approach toward hastening death by a physician adopted in England and Wales in terms of

A sociocultural analysis of death anxiety among older Japanese urbanites in a citizens' movement.

PubMed

Kawano, Satsuki

By examining the experiences of death anxiety and attitudes toward personal deaths among members of a citizens' movement, the Grave-Free Promotion Society (GFPS), this study considers the applicability of the view that culture and high self-esteem serve as defenses against death anxiety in Japan's changing society. The GFPS promotes the scattering of ashes over the conventional interment of cremated remains in a family grave. GFPS members often lack descendants to care for a family grave, the neglect of which is thought to endanger the deceased's peaceful rest. By returning the dead to nature through ash scattering, the GFPS provides an alternative strategy of managing its members' posthumous well-being. GFPS members often report that their choice of ash scattering has reduced their anxiety about their personal deaths and improved the quality of their lives. Based upon these findings, this study offers some suggestions for increasing cultural sensitivities of test instruments commonly used to examine death anxiety among older persons for use in a Japanese context.

Preparing Attitude Scale to Define Students' Attitudes about Environment, Recycling, Plastic and Plastic Waste

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avan, Cagri; Aydinli, Bahattin; Bakar, Fatma; Alboga, Yunus

2011-01-01

The aim of this study is to introduce an attitude scale in order to define students? attitudes about environment, recycling, plastics, plastic waste. In this study, 80 attitude sentences according to 5-point Likert-type scale were prepared and applied to 492 students of 6th grade in the Kastamonu city center of Turkey. The scale consists of…

Introducing Life Events in Preschool Education: Future Educators' Attitudes and Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brouskeli, Vasiliki

2014-01-01

In this study, we aimed to clarify future preschool teachers' attitudes and perceptions about introducing life events, such as chronic illness, hospitalisation, divorce and death to their pupils. We used semi-structured interviews for two different groups who had and had not attended relative to life events courses. Results indicated that future…

Death notification: considerations for law enforcement personnel.

PubMed

Hart, C W; DeBernardo, Caren R

2004-01-01

Death notification is among the most unpleasant and uncomfortable tasks a law enforcement officer undertakes. For years, law enforcement officers have been performing notifications that involved life threatening injuries or death from tragedies including suicide. Unfortunately, many officers have performed this task without appropriate training. Performing notifications can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Expressing the right words, understanding families' emotions, and responding with empathy are paramount. The attitude, demeanor, professionalism, and sensitivity of law enforcement officers projected during a notification are critical. The delivery of a notification can remain etched in a family member's memory forever. Many notifications have left family members with the perception that law enforcement officers are callous, thoughtless, and insensitive. This negative perception can be overcome through training and practice. This article presents several factors that supervisors and officers should consider in the notification process and offers guidelines to consider to best serve your agency and the community.

Children's attitudes toward people with AIDS in Puerto Rico: exploring stigma through drawings and stories.

PubMed

González-Rivera, Milagritos; Bauermeister, José A

2007-02-01

AIDS stigma refers to prejudice and discrimination directed at people or groups perceived to have HIV/AIDS (Herek, 1999). Although AIDS stigma has been found in adolescent and adult populations, few researchers have explored it among children. Misconceptions about people with AIDS (PWA) might lead to negative attitudes toward PWA and obstruct HIV prevention efforts. The authors assessed 110 Puerto Rican children's attitudes toward PWA using drawings (n=65) and stories (n=45). Although participants held stigmatizing attitudes toward PWA across both methods, the approaches captured different beliefs and attitudes. Drawings depicted PWA as physically deteriorated and performing socially condemned behaviors, whereas stories describing PWA highlighted children's fear of contagion and death. Stigma toward PWA was more pronounced than toward other illnesses (e.g., cancer). The study highlights the importance of assessing children's attitudes through creative data collection procedures.

A near death experience: Shigella manipulates host death machinery to silence innate immunity.

PubMed

Bronner, Denise N; O'Riordan, Mary Xd

2014-10-01

Release of mitochondrial contents often triggers inflammation and cell death, and modulating this process can be advantageous to invading pathogens. In this issue of The EMBO Journal, Andree and colleagues reveal new findings that an intracellular bacterial pathogen exploits apoptotic machinery to suppress host immune signaling, yet avoids cell death. This study emphasizes the need to expand our understanding of the roles played by pro‐apoptotic proteins in non‐death scenarios.

Factors That Affect the Attitudes of the Bolivian Population in Spain With Regard to Organ Donation for Transplant.

PubMed

Ríos, A; López-Navas, A I; Sánchez, Á; Ayala, M A; Garrido, G; Sebastián, M J; Martínez-Alarcó, L; Ramis, G; Hernández, A M; Ramírez, P; Parrilla, P

2018-03-01

The Bolivian population is an emerging Latin American immigrant group in Spain, several of whom have been transplanted or are awaiting transplant. We aimed to assess attitudes toward organ donation among Bolivians currently residing in Spain. The population screened was born in Bolivia but living in Spain, stratified by gender and age. The appraisal tool used was a questionnaire that assesses attitudes toward organ donation for transplant ("PCID-DTO Ríos"). Support from immigration associations in Spain was needed for advice on locations of potential respondents. Survey participation was anonymized and the questionnaire was self-administered. Verbal consent was obtained before participation. There were 206 respondents: 49% (n = 101) in favor of donating their organs after death; 21% (n = 44) against donation; and 30% (n = 61) undecided. Their attitudes were found to be associated with level of education (P = .008), previous experience with donation and transplant (P = .011), concern regarding mutilation after donation (P = .002), knowing the attitude of their religion toward transplant (P = .001), the opinion of their partner (P < .001), and the possibility of needing a future transplant (P = .050). In the multivariate study, the main factor was having a partner in favor of organ donation (odds ratio = 16.129; P = .003). Attitudes toward organ donation among Bolivians residing in Spain are far more negative compared with rest of the Spanish population, due to various factors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Terror Management Perspective on Young Adults' Ageism and Attitudes toward Dementia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, Melissa L.; McFadden, Susan H.

2012-01-01

According to Terror Management Theory as applied to ageism, older adults may be associated with mortality, thereby generating death-thought accessibility, stereotypes, and mixed emotions among younger adults. However, it is unclear how older adults' health conditions, such as dementia, affect ageist attitudes and mortality salience. In the current…

Pre-Service Accounting Teachers' Attitudes to Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mkhize, Msizi Vitalis; Maistry, Suriamurthee Moonsamy

2017-01-01

Mathematics proficiency has an acknowledged impact on students' accounting grades. Success in this core business subject is dependent on students' mathematical aptitude, attitude and type of secondary schooling. Our study investigated accounting students' attitudes to mathematics on domains of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales…

Overseas visitor deaths in Australia, 2001 to 2003.

PubMed

Leggat, Peter A; Wilks, Jeff

2009-01-01

The health and safety of international visitors remain an important issue for Australia and other tourist destinations. The death of visitors remains an important indicator of safety. The aim of this study was to provide updated figures on deaths of overseas travelers in Australia. Data were sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics concerning deaths of overseas visitors for the years 2001 to 2003. There were 1,068 overseas visitor deaths (701 males, 66%) during the study period 2001 to 2003. Death by natural causes increased with age, while deaths associated with accidents were more frequent among younger age groups. The majority of deaths were from natural causes (782, 73%), particularly ischemic heart diseases (26%). There were a total of 247 accidental deaths (23% of all deaths) with the main causes being transportation accidents (14% of all deaths) and accidental drowning/submersion (5% of all deaths). The countries contributing the most deaths were the UK (247, 23%), New Zealand (108, 10%) Melanesia/Micronesia (95, 9%), and the United States (57, 5%). Australia remains a relatively safe destination for international travelers, at least in terms of fatalities, which appear to be declining. Most deaths of overseas tourists in Australia are due to natural causes with cardiovascular disease being the predominant cause of death in this group. Accidents remain the most common preventable cause of death of travelers, with road and water safety being the major issues. It is important that tourism and travel medicine groups continue to advocate for improved health and safety of international travelers visiting Australia.

The attitudes of nursing students to euthanasia.

PubMed

Naseh, Ladan; Heidari, Mohammad

2017-01-01

One of the most common morally controversial issues in endof-life care is euthanasia. Examining the attitudes of nursing students to this issue is important because they may encounter situations related to euthanasia during their clinical courses. The aim of our study was to examine nursing students' attitudes to euthanasia in Shahrekord city in western Iran. This was done using the Euthanasia Attitude Scale. The scale is divided into four categories, ie ethical considerations, practical considerations, treasuring life and naturalistic beliefs. Of 132 nursing students, 120 participated in the study (response rate 93.1%). According to the study's findings, 52.5%, 2.5% and 45% of the students reported a negative, neutral and positive attitude to euthanasia, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the nursing students' attitudes to euthanasia and some demographic characteristics, including sex, age and religious beliefs. Iranian Muslim nursing students participating in the study had a negative attitude to euthanasia. Further studies are recommended among nursing students from different cultures and of different religious faiths.

Attitudes Concerning Postmortem Organ Donation: A Multicenter Survey in Various German Cohorts.

PubMed

Uhlig, Constantin E; Böhringer, Daniel; Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Seitz, Berthold; Schmidt, Hartmut

2015-10-13

The aim of this study was to characterize postmortem organ donation attitudes in various German cohorts. Employees of 2 German cities and 2 German university hospitals, employees of a German automobile enterprise, and members of a German Medical Society were administered a questionnaire about postmortem organ and tissue donation attitudes. Demographic data and general attitudes were questioned and focused on: I) willingness to donate organs, II) holding a donor card, and III) having discussed the topic with the family. Of 5291 participants, 65.2% reported favoring postmortem organ donation. Missing negative experiences, the idea that donation is helpful, a non-medical professional environment, excellent general health, gender, agreement with the brain-death paradigm, and age significantly influenced the participants' attitudes. Participants were more likely to possess donor cards and had discussed more often with family members if they agreed with the brain-death paradigm and considered donation to be helpful. Males and older participants were the most likely to neglect donor cards, and Catholics, Protestants, and participants with poor health were the least likely to donate organs. Interest in receiving more information was expressed by 38.1% and 50.6% of participants refusing donation of all or of specific organs, respectively, and suggested the internet (60.0%) and family doctors (35.0%) as preferred sources of information. Public campaigns in Germany should focus on males and older people as regards donor cards, and females, younger, and religiously affiliated persons as regards the general willingness to donate organs postmortem.

Attitudes of midwives and maternal child health nurses towards suicide: A cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Lau, Rosalind; McCauley, Kay; Barnfield, Jakqui; Moss, Cheryle; Cross, Wendy

2015-12-01

Perinatal women are at risk of depression and/or suicidality. Suicide is the highest cause of indirect maternal deaths in the perinatal period. Midwives and maternal child health nurses (MCHN), as key clinicians, need to be able to detect these mental health issues. Little is known about these clinicians' attitudes to suicide. In this paper, we report on the results of a cross-sectional study of midwives' and MCHN attitudes to suicide. A convenience sample of midwives (n = 95) and MCHN (n = 86) from south-eastern Victoria, Australia, was recruited into the study. Participants completed the Attitudes to Suicide Prevention Scale. The results showed that MCHN have more positive attitudes towards suicide prevention than midwives, and younger participants have more positive attitudes to suicide prevention compared to older participants. Midwives and MCHN could benefit from continuing professional education to build their knowledge and skills in assessing suicide risk for childbearing women and their families, increasing positive attitudes, improving detection, and mental health referrals. © 2015 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Construction of exercise attitude questionnaire-18 to evaluate patients' attitudes toward exercises.

PubMed

Manigandan, C; Charles, J; Divya, I; Edward, S J; Aaron, A

2004-09-01

The importance of exercise for health and the long-term management of various diseases is now well documented and established. However, the challenge is the lack of patient compliance to exercises, which is true for almost all diseases, from acute back pain to chronic arthritis. One of the factors for compliance is the perception that exercises are effective in ameliorating unpleasant symptoms. Precisely, people's perception and their attitude towards exercises matter the most in determining the treatment outcome in such conditions. Unfortunately, the psychology of exercise initiation and adherence in the patient population is seriously under-researched. Recent literature has identified the need to consider various similar factors like motivation, barriers to exercise, exercise-related beliefs, attitudes, and the formulation of self-perceptions and self-identity towards exercises. However, no good instrument exists that is sensitive and standardized to evaluate people's attitude towards exercises, which is fundamental and crucial in determining the final outcome of exercise-treatable diseases. Hence we have attempted to design a questionnaire to 'evaluate the level of people's attitude towards exercises'.

Children's Attitudes toward People with AIDS in Puerto Rico: Exploring stigma through drawings and stories

PubMed Central

González-Rivera, Milagritos; Bauermeister, Josè A.

2014-01-01

AIDS stigma refers to prejudice and discrimination directed at people or groups perceived to have HIV/AIDS (Herek, 1999). Although AIDS stigma has been found in adolescent and adult populations, few researchers have explored it among children. Misconceptions about people with AIDS (PWA) might lead to negative attitudes toward PWA and obstruct HIV prevention efforts. The authors assessed 110 Puerto Rican children’s attitudes toward PWA using drawings (n = 65) and stories (n = 45). Although participants held stigmatizing attitudes toward PWA across both methods, the approaches captured different beliefs and attitudes. Drawings depicted PWA as physically deteriorated and performing socially condemned behaviors, whereas stories describing PWA highlighted children’s fear of contagion and death. Stigma toward PWA was more pronounced than toward other illnesses (e.g., cancer). The study highlights the importance of assessing children’s attitudes through creative data collection procedures. PMID:17220395

20 CFR 219.23 - Evidence to prove death.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Evidence to prove death. 219.23 Section 219... EVIDENCE REQUIRED FOR PAYMENT Evidence of Age and Death § 219.23 Evidence to prove death. (a) Preferred evidence of death. The best evidence of a person's death is— (1) A certified copy of or extract from the...

20 CFR 219.23 - Evidence to prove death.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Evidence to prove death. 219.23 Section 219... EVIDENCE REQUIRED FOR PAYMENT Evidence of Age and Death § 219.23 Evidence to prove death. (a) Preferred evidence of death. The best evidence of a person's death is— (1) A certified copy of or extract from the...

20 CFR 219.23 - Evidence to prove death.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2014-04-01 2012-04-01 true Evidence to prove death. 219.23 Section 219.23... REQUIRED FOR PAYMENT Evidence of Age and Death § 219.23 Evidence to prove death. (a) Preferred evidence of death. The best evidence of a person's death is— (1) A certified copy of or extract from the public...

20 CFR 219.23 - Evidence to prove death.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Evidence to prove death. 219.23 Section 219... EVIDENCE REQUIRED FOR PAYMENT Evidence of Age and Death § 219.23 Evidence to prove death. (a) Preferred evidence of death. The best evidence of a person's death is— (1) A certified copy of or extract from the...

20 CFR 219.23 - Evidence to prove death.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2013-04-01 2012-04-01 true Evidence to prove death. 219.23 Section 219.23... REQUIRED FOR PAYMENT Evidence of Age and Death § 219.23 Evidence to prove death. (a) Preferred evidence of death. The best evidence of a person's death is— (1) A certified copy of or extract from the public...

Attitude-correlated frames approach for a star sensor to improve attitude accuracy under highly dynamic conditions.

PubMed

Ma, Liheng; Zhan, Dejun; Jiang, Guangwen; Fu, Sihua; Jia, Hui; Wang, Xingshu; Huang, Zongsheng; Zheng, Jiaxing; Hu, Feng; Wu, Wei; Qin, Shiqiao

2015-09-01

The attitude accuracy of a star sensor decreases rapidly when star images become motion-blurred under dynamic conditions. Existing techniques concentrate on a single frame of star images to solve this problem and improvements are obtained to a certain extent. An attitude-correlated frames (ACF) approach, which concentrates on the features of the attitude transforms of the adjacent star image frames, is proposed to improve upon the existing techniques. The attitude transforms between different star image frames are measured by the strap-down gyro unit precisely. With the ACF method, a much larger star image frame is obtained through the combination of adjacent frames. As a result, the degradation of attitude accuracy caused by motion-blurring are compensated for. The improvement of the attitude accuracy is approximately proportional to the square root of the number of correlated star image frames. Simulations and experimental results indicate that the ACF approach is effective in removing random noises and improving the attitude determination accuracy of the star sensor under highly dynamic conditions.

Values, inter-attitudinal structure, and attitude change: value accessibility can increase a related attitude's resistance to change.

PubMed

Blankenship, Kevin L; Wegener, Duane T; Murray, Renee A

2015-12-01

Accessibility is one of the most basic structural properties of an attitude and an important factor to consider in attitude strength. Despite its importance, relatively little work has examined the role of attitude accessibility in an inter-attitudinal context, particularly as it relates to the strength of related attitudes in the network. The present research examines accessibility as a property of one attitude (toward an abstract goal or end-state, that is, a value) that might influence the strength of a different but related attitude (toward a social policy conceptually related to the value). In Study 1, a highly accessible evaluative component of a value increased resistance to change of attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a social policy related to that value. Similarly, a manipulation of value accessibility (Studies 2 and 3) led to increased resistance of attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a social policy related to that value. Implications for the role of accessibility in inter-attitudinal strength are discussed. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Impact Factors and Attitudes Toward Organ Donation Among Transplantation Patients and Their Caregivers in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Q-X; Xie, J-F; Zhou, J-D; Xiao, S-S; Liu, A-Z; Hu, G-Q; Chen, Y; Wang, C-Y

2017-11-01

This study's purpose was to investigate the attitudes toward organ donation among renal transplantation patients and their caregivers. In addition, we sought to explore the impact factors that affect their attitudes toward deceased organ donation. A self-administrated questionnaire was used, which consisted of two parts: 1) demographic data, and 2) transplantation and donation-related data. This study was conducted in three transplantation follow-up centers in three hospitals using a cross-sectional approach. SPSS 17.0 software was used to analysis descriptive and inferential statistics for data. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. We received 426 effective questionnaires. The renal transplantation patients' mean age was 40.84 years. Among these patients, 67.8% were willing to accept the organ transplantation surgery for their relatives, 67.4% were willing to donate a living kidney to a close relative, 62.7% were willing to donate organs after death, 53.5% were willing to register in the national organ donation system, and 51.4% were willing to sign the organ donation consent when facing their relatives becoming a potential organ donor. Age, marriage status, education level, understanding of transplantation procedures and understanding of donation procedures had statistical significance in the difference of the attitudes toward donate their organs after death (P < .05). Renal transplantation patients in our study are more willing to donate organs after death than their caregivers, but both their attitudes toward deceased donation were not very optimistic. There is a significant relationship between participants' willingness and knowledge of organ donation; patients with more understanding of the transplantation and donation procedure were more willing to donate organs after death. Affected by traditional values such as Confucianism, many people still cannot accept registering in the national organ donation

20 CFR 718.205 - Death due to pneumoconiosis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Death due to pneumoconiosis. 718.205 Section... DEATH DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS Determining Entitlement to Benefits § 718.205 Death due to pneumoconiosis. (a) Benefits are provided to eligible survivors of a miner whose death was due to pneumoconiosis. In...

20 CFR 718.205 - Death due to pneumoconiosis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Death due to pneumoconiosis. 718.205 Section... OR DEATH DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS Determining Entitlement to Benefits § 718.205 Death due to pneumoconiosis. (a) Benefits are provided to eligible survivors of a miner whose death was due to pneumoconiosis...

20 CFR 718.205 - Death due to pneumoconiosis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Death due to pneumoconiosis. 718.205 Section... OR DEATH DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS Determining Entitlement to Benefits § 718.205 Death due to pneumoconiosis. (a) Benefits are provided to eligible survivors of a miner whose death was due to pneumoconiosis...

20 CFR 718.205 - Death due to pneumoconiosis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Death due to pneumoconiosis. 718.205 Section... OR DEATH DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS Determining Entitlement to Benefits § 718.205 Death due to pneumoconiosis. (a) Benefits are provided to eligible survivors of a miner whose death was due to pneumoconiosis...

20 CFR 718.205 - Death due to pneumoconiosis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Death due to pneumoconiosis. 718.205 Section... OR DEATH DUE TO PNEUMOCONIOSIS Determining Entitlement to Benefits § 718.205 Death due to pneumoconiosis. (a) Benefits are provided to eligible survivors of a miner whose death was due to pneumoconiosis...

Similarities and Dissimilarities in Attitudes toward Death in a Population of Older Persons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wass, Hannelore; And Others

1978-01-01

The responses of 171 elderly persons selected from three different types of residence communities to an abbreviated form of Shneidman death questionnaire were analyzed. In addition to some expected similarities, significant differences were found. These differences appear related to educational level, type of residence community (rural,urban), and…

[Medical students and their attitude to psychiatry].

PubMed

den Held, O M; Hegge, I R H J; van Schaik, D J F; van Balkom, A J L M

2011-01-01

The attitudes of medical students to psychiatry are important for the future care of patients with psychiatric (co)morbidity. Up till now the attitude of medical students to psychiatry has not been investigated in the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. To measure the attitude of third year medical students towards psychiatry by means of the ATP-30. This is a validated instrument, used internationally. To determine the extent to which medical students' attitudes were influenced by the psychiatry curriculum and by some sociodemographic determinants and which aspects of a career – according to earlier Dutch research – made students decide to opt for a particular specialism. Our research was of the prospective cohort type; without controls. The design was a pre- and post design. Attitudes to psychiatry were generally positive (n = 262, ATP score: 106.1, sd 10.9, ATP score ≤ 90 was regarded as negative) and improved after students received instruction in psychiatry. Men were less positive than women. Students who previously had positive experiences with the psychiatric services had higher scores. Foreign students, mainly from non-Western countries, had lower scores. After these foreign students had completed their studies in the Netherlands, there was no longer any significant difference between the scores of the two groups. Attitudes to psychiatry are positive within our cohort. Tuition has a positive effect on students' attitudes. The less positive score of the foreign students at the start of their course is probably due to the fact that they were not familiar with psychiatry and psychiatric services.

Attitudes to Science of Pupils in Sarawak.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ibrahim, Akbar bin

1984-01-01

Attitudes toward science of 654 pupils aged 14-15 were assessed, and relationships between attitude and locality, achievement, and sex studied. Achievement was mildly correlated with attitude, but locality and sex had no influence. Other findings are also discussed. (MNS)

Giving Your Last Gift: A Study of the Knowledge, Attitude and Information of Greek Students Regarding Organ Donation.

PubMed

Katsari, Vasiliki; Domeyer, Philip J; Sarafis, Pavlos; Souliotis, Kyriakos

2015-07-02

Organ donation rates in Greece are the lowest in the European Union. Studying and improving young students' awareness may increase organ donation rates. This study aimed to investigate young students' knowledge, attitude and information regarding organ donation and whether they are modified by putative predictors. A 62-item electronic questionnaire was sent to 1451 eligible students aged 18-30 years in 16 Greek public technical schools. Two composite scales (knowledge and attitude) were created. The multivariate statistical analysis included ordinal logistic and linear regression, as appropriate. Only 37.9% of the students knew the correct definition of organ donation, 40.3% knew which organs can be donated, 27.4% were informed about the new Greek legislation, and 83.1% acknowledged the need for better information. Although 60.5% would donate an organ after death, only 16.1% would become living donors. Although 83.1% of the students declared knowing what brain death means, 18.6% believe that a brain-dead person could fully recover and 32.3% are unsure about it. Being a health professional or a blood donor, the parent's educational level, the wish to donate all organs after death, the information from announcements or posters, the fear of organ removal after death without prior consent, the consent for autopsy, the wish for better information, and the misbelief that a brain-dead person could fully recover emerged as important predictors of the knowledge and attitude, regarding organ donation. An important lack of knowledge and misperceptions were noted regarding organ donation. Significant predictors were identified.

Improving Student Teachers' Attitudes to Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amato, Solange Amorim

2004-01-01

The research results presented in this paper were part of an action research performed with the aims of improving primary school student teachers (STs)' understanding of, and attitudes to, mathematics. The teaching strategies used to help STs' improve their understanding and attitudes were similar to the ones suggested for their future use in…

Using multiple cause-of-death data to investigate associations and causality between conditions listed on the death certificate.

PubMed

Redelings, Matthew D; Wise, Matthew; Sorvillo, Frank

2007-07-01

Death rarely results from only one cause, and it can be caused by a variety of factors. Multiple cause-of-death data files can list as many as 20 contributing causes of death in addition to the reported underlying cause of death. Analysis of multiple cause-of-death data can provide information on associations between causes of death, revealing common combinations of events or conditions which lead to death. Additionally, physicians report the causal train of events through which they believe that different conditions or events may have led to each other and ultimately caused death. In this paper, the authors discuss methods used in studying associations between reported causes of death and in investigating commonly reported causal pathways between events or conditions listed on the death certificate.

Multivariate analysis to determine the factors affecting the attitudes toward organ donation of healthcare assistants in Spanish and Mexican healthcare centers.

PubMed

Ríos, A; López-Navas, A; Ayala-García, M A; Sebastián, M; Febrero, B; Ramírez, E J; Muñoz, G; Palacios, G; Rodríguez, J S; Martínez, M A; Nieto, A; Martínez-Alarcón, L; Ramis, G; Ramírez, P; Parrilla, P

2012-01-01

Healthcare assistants are an important group of workers who can influence public opinion. Their attitudes toward organ donation may influence public awareness of healthcare matters; negative attitudes toward donation and transplantation could have a negative impact on public attitudes. Our objective was analyze the attitudes of healthcare assistants, in Spanish and Mexican healthcare centers toward organ donation and determine factors affecting them using a multivariate analysis. As part of the "International Collaborative Donor Project," 32 primary care centers and 4 hospitals were selected in Spain and 5 hospitals in Mexico. A randomized sample of healthcare assistants was stratified according to healthcare services. Attitudes were evaluated using a validated questionnaire of the psychosocial aspects of donation, which was self-completed anonymously by the respondent. Statistical analysis used the chi-square test, Student t test, and logistic regression analysis. Of 532 respondents, 66% in favored donation and 34% were against it or undecided. Upon multivariate analysis, the following variables had the most weight: 1) country of origin (Mexicans were more in favor than Spanish; odds ratio [OR]) = 1.964; P = .014); 2) a partner with a favorable attitude (OR = 2.597; P = .013); 3) not being concerned about possible bodily mutilation after donation (OR = 2.631; P = .006); 4) preference for options apart from burial for handling the body after death (OR = 4.694; P < .001) and 5) accepting an autopsy if one was needed (OR = 3.584; P < .001). The attitudes of healthcare assistants toward organ donation varied considerably according to the respondent's country of origin. The psycho-social profile of a person with a positive attitude to donation was similar to that described within the general public. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attitudes to Educational Issues: Development of an Instrument.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lemke, Jay L.; And Others

To obtain a test which could be used for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data on teachers' attitudes toward contemporary educational issues, the Attitudes to Educational Issues instrument (AEI) was developed. Statements were written in five-choice Likert format to express attitudes toward these six educational issues: (1)…

Total brain death: a reply to Alan Shewmon.

PubMed

Lee, Patrick; GriseZ, Germain

2012-06-01

D. Alan Shewmon has advanced a well-documented challenge to the widely accepted total brain death criterion for death of the human being. We show that Shewmon’s argument against this criterion is unsound, though he does refute the standard argument for that criterion. We advance a distinct argument for the total brain death criterion and answer likely objections. Since human beings are rational animals--sentient organisms of a specific type--the loss of the radical capacity for sentience (the capacity to sense or to develop the capacity to sense) involves a substantial change, the passing away of the human organism. In human beings total brain death involves the complete loss of the radical capacity for sentience, and so in human beings total brain death is death.

Neurocognitive processes of linguistic cues related to death.

PubMed

Han, Shihui; Qin, Jungang; Ma, Yina

2010-10-01

Consciousness of the finiteness of one's personal existence influences human thoughts and behaviors tremendously. However, the neural substrates underlying the processing of death-related information remain unclear. The current study addressed this issue by scanning 20 female adults, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, in a modified Stroop task that required naming colors of death-related, negative-valence, and neutral-valence words. We found that, while both death-related and negative-valence words increased activity in the precuneus/posterior cingulate and lateral frontal cortex relative to neutral-valence words, the neural correlate of the processing of death-related words was characterized by decreased activity in bilateral insula relative to both negative-valence and neutral-valence words. Moreover, the decreased activity in the left insula correlated with subjective ratings of death relevance of death-related words and the decreased activity in the right insula correlated with subjective ratings of arousal induced by death-related words. Our fMRI findings suggest that, while both death-related and negative-valence words are associated with enhanced arousal and emotion regulation, the processing of linguistic cues related to death is associated with modulations of the activity in the insula that mediates neural representation of the sentient self. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socioeconomic inequalities in attitudes towards cancer: an international cancer benchmarking partnership study

PubMed Central

Quaife, Samantha L.; Winstanley, Kelly; Robb, Katie A.; Simon, Alice E.; Ramirez, Amanda J.; Forbes, Lindsay J.L.; Brain, Kate E.; Gavin, Anna

2015-01-01

Socioeconomic status (SES) differences in attitudes towards cancer have been implicated in the differential screening uptake and the timeliness of symptomatic presentation. However, the predominant emphasis of this work has been on cancer fatalism, and many studies focus on specific community subgroups. This study aimed to assess SES differences in positive and negative attitudes towards cancer in UK adults. A population-based sample of UK adults (n=6965, age≥50 years) completed the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer scale, including six belief items: three positively framed (e.g. ‘Cancer can often be cured’) and three negatively framed (e.g. ‘A cancer diagnosis is a death sentence’). SES was indexed by education. Analyses controlled for sex, ethnicity, marital status, age, self-rated health, and cancer experience. There were few education-level differences for the positive statements, and overall agreement was high (all>90%). In contrast, there were strong differences for negative statements (all Ps<0.001). Among respondents with lower education levels, 57% agreed that ‘treatment is worse than cancer’, 27% that cancer is ‘a death sentence’ and 16% ‘would not want to know if I have cancer’. Among those with university education, the respective proportions were 34, 17 and 6%. Differences were not explained by cancer experience or health status. In conclusion, positive statements about cancer outcomes attract near-universal agreement. However, this optimistic perspective coexists alongside widespread fears about survival and treatment, especially among less-educated groups. Health education campaigns targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged groups might benefit from a focus on reducing negative attitudes, which is not necessarily achieved by promoting positive attitudes. PMID:25734238

Cross-cultural differences in psychiatric nurses' attitudes to inpatient aggression.

PubMed

Jansen, Gerard J; Middel, Berry; Dassen, Theo W N; Reijneveld, Menno S A

2006-04-01

Little is currently known about the attitudes of psychiatric nurses toward patient aggression, particularly from an international perspective. Attitudes toward patient aggression of psychiatric nurses from five European countries were investigated using a recently developed and tested attitude scale. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 1,769 student nurses and psychiatric nurses. Regression analysis was performed to identify personal and occupational characteristics of the respondents able to predict their attitude toward aggression. Analysis of variance was used to identify significant differences in attitudes between and among countries. Attitude was predicted by sex, contractual status (full vs. part time), and the type of ward on which subjects worked. With one exception (communicative attitude), attitudes differed across countries. More research on attitude formation is needed to determine which factors account for these differences.

National Trends in Pharmaceutical Opioid Related Overdose Deaths Compared to other Substance Related Overdose Deaths: 1999-2009

PubMed Central

Calcaterra, Susan; Glanz, Jason; Binswanger, Ingrid A.

2014-01-01

Background: Pharmaceutical opioid related deaths have increased. This study aimed to place pharmaceutical opioid overdose deaths within the context of heroin, cocaine, psychostimulants, and pharmaceutical sedative hypnotics, examine demographic trends, and describe common combinations of substances involved in opioid related deaths. Methods: We reviewed deaths among 15-64 year olds in the US from 1999-2009 using death certificate data available through the CDC Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) Database. We identified International Classification of Disease-10 codes describing accidental overdose deaths, including poisonings related to stimulants, pharmaceutical drugs, and heroin. We used crude and age adjusted death rates (deaths/100,000 person years [p-y] and 95% confidence interval [CI] and multivariable Poisson regression models, yielding incident rate ratios (IRRs), for analysis. Results: The age adjusted death rate related to pharmaceutical opioids increased almost 4-fold from 1999 to 2009 (1.54/100,000 p-y [95% CI 1.49-1.60] to 6.05/100,000 p-y [95% CI 5.95-6.16; p<0.001). From 1999 to 2009, pharmaceutical opioids were responsible for the highest relative increase in overdose death rates (IRR 4.22, 95% CI 3.03-5.87) followed by sedative hypnotics (IRR 3.53, 95% CI 2.11-5.90). Heroin related overdose death rates increased from 2007 to 2009 (1.05/100,000 persons [95% CI 1.00-1.09] to 1.43/100,000 persons [95% CI 1.38-1.48; p<0.001). From 2005-2009 the combination of pharmaceutical opioids and benzodiazepines was the most common cause of polysubstance overdose deaths (1.27/100,000 p-y (95% CI 1.25-1.30). Conclusion: Strategies, such as wider implementation of naloxone, expanded access to treatment, and development of new interventions are needed to curb the pharmaceutical opioid overdose epidemic. PMID:23294765

Homicidal deaths by firearms in Peshawar: an autopsy study.

PubMed

Hussain, Zahid; Shah, Mian Mujahid; Afridi, Hakim Khan; Arif, Muhammad

2006-01-01

Medico legal autopsies can be valuable sources of information about the distribution of causes of reported deaths, particularly in homicidal cases. The present study provides information regarding the homicidal deaths due to firearm injuries in the district of Peshawar, NWFP, Pakistan. This descriptive study was conducted over the period of the year 2004. Data were collected from the autopsy records of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Khyber Medical College Peshawar and included all reported unnatural deaths from urban and rural areas of district Peshawar on whom autopsies were conducted in the department. Homicidal deaths constituted 77.7% (492/633) of all autopsies for the year 2004. Of 492 homicidal deaths, a vast majority of 452 (91.87%) were caused by firearm injuries. Among these, the male to female ratio was 5.5:1. The most common firearm weapon (418/452, 92.5%) were high velocity rifled weapons (Kalashnikov, rifles, pistols), followed by low velocity rifled weapons (18/452, 3.98%) and shotguns (16/452, 3.54%). A total of 956 injuries were found in various body areas, giving an average of over two injuries per person. The head, face and neck sustained the highest injuries (257, 26.9%), followed by the chest (248, 25.9%) and abdomen (149, 15.6%); the extremities, buttocks and genitalia together sustained 302 (31.6%) injuries. The vast majority of reported homicides in Peshawar are caused by firearm injuries, which bring up issues related to possession of firearms and changes in cultural attitudes towards use of firearms, if a decrease in firearm-related homicides is desired.

[Maternal deaths due to infectious cause, results from the French confidential enquiry into maternal deaths, 2010-2012].

PubMed

Rigouzzo, A; Tessier, V; Zieleskiewicz, L

2017-12-01

Over the period 2010-2012, maternal mortality from infectious causes accounted for 5% of maternal deaths by direct causes and 16% of maternal deaths by indirect causes. Among the 22 deaths caused by infection occurred during this period, 6 deaths were attributed to direct causes from genital tract origin, confirming thus the decrease in direct maternal deaths by infection during the last ten years. On the contrary, indirect maternal deaths by infection, from extragenital origin, doubled during the same period, with 16 deaths in the last triennium, dominated by winter respiratory infections, particularly influenza: the 2009-2010 influenza A (H1N1) virus pandemic was the leading cause of indirect maternal mortality by infection during the studied period. The main infectious agents involved in maternal deaths from direct causes were Streptococcus A, Escherichia Coli and Clostridium perfringens: these bacterias were responsible for toxic shock syndrome, severe sepsis, secondary in some cases to cellulitis or necrotizing fasciitis. Of the 6 deaths due to direct infection, 4 were considered avoidable because of inadequate management: delayed or missed diagnosis, delayed or inadequate initiation of a specific medical and/or surgical treatment. Of the 16 indirect maternal deaths due to infection causes, the most often involved infectious agents were influenza A (H1N1) virus and Streptococcus pneumonia with induced purpura fulminans: the absence of influenza vaccination during pregnancy, delayed diagnosis and emergency initiation of a specific treatment, were the main contributory factors to these deaths and their avoidability in 70% of the cases analyzed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Being a hospice volunteer influenced medical students' comfort with dying and death: a pilot study.

PubMed

Stecho, Will; Khalaf, Roy; Prendergast, Patrick; Geerlinks, Ashley; Lingard, Lorelei; Schulz, Valerie

2012-01-01

Being comfortable with death and communicating with patients near the end of life are important attributes in palliative care. We developed a hospice volunteer program to teach these attitudes and skills to preclinical medical students. Using a mixed-methods approach, validated surveys measured participants' and non-participants fear of death and communication apprehension regarding dying. Journals and focus groups examined participants' subjective experiences as their patient relationships evolved. Survey scores were significantly lower for participant hospice volunteers, indicating lower levels of death anxiety and communication apprehension regarding dying. An explanatory framework, using journals and focus groups, captured participants' sense of development over time into three categories: challenges, learning, and growth. This pilot project provides insight into the medical students' experiential learning as they participate in our hospice volunteer program.

Attitudes toward women and orientation to seeking professional psychological help.

PubMed

Zeldow, P B; Greenberg, R P

1979-04-01

Studied the relationship between attitudes toward the rights and proper roles of women in society and attitudes toward seeking professional help for emotional problems in a sample of 80 college students. Liberal attitudes toward women were associated with positive help-seeking attitudes in men and women, contrary to predictions based on prior research and on feminist criticisms of the mental health profession. No sex difference in attitudes toward help-seeking was found; however, the attitudes toward women variable appears to be at least as good a predictor of actual help-seeking as a person's attitude toward help-seeking, within the sample studied.

Attitude Strength.

PubMed

Howe, Lauren C; Krosnick, Jon A

2017-01-03

Attitude strength has been the focus of a huge volume of research in psychology and related sciences for decades. The insights offered by this literature have tremendous value for understanding attitude functioning and structure and for the effective application of the attitude concept in applied settings. This is the first Annual Review of Psychology article on the topic, and it offers a review of theory and evidence regarding one of the most researched strength-related attitude features: attitude importance. Personal importance is attached to an attitude when the attitude is perceived to be relevant to self-interest, social identification with reference groups or reference individuals, and values. Attaching personal importance to an attitude causes crystallizing of attitudes (via enhanced resistance to change), effortful gathering and processing of relevant information, accumulation of a large store of well-organized relevant information in long-term memory, enhanced attitude extremity and accessibility, enhanced attitude impact on the regulation of interpersonal attraction, energizing of emotional reactions, and enhanced impact of attitudes on behavioral intentions and action. Thus, important attitudes are real and consequential psychological forces, and their study offers opportunities for addressing behavioral change.

Internists' attitudes toward prevention of firearm injury.

PubMed

Butkus, Renee; Weissman, Arlene

2014-06-17

Professional organizations have called for the medical community's attention to the prevention of firearm injury. However, little is known about physicians' attitudes and practices in preventing firearm injury. To determine internists' attitudes and practices about firearms and to assess whether opinions differ according to whether there are gun owners in a physician's home. Cross-sectional survey. Internal medicine practices. 573 internists representative of American College of Physicians' members. Respondents' experiences and reported practice behaviors related to firearms and their opinions about contributors and public policies related to firearm violence, as well as physician education and training in firearm safety. The survey response rate was 56.5%. Eighty-five percent of respondents believed that firearm injury is a public health issue, and 71% believed that it is a bigger problem today than a decade ago. Seventy-six percent of respondents believed that stricter gun control legislation would help reduce the risks for gun-related injuries or deaths. Although 66% of respondents believed that physicians should have the right to counsel patients on preventing deaths and injuries from firearms, 58% reported never asking whether patients have guns in their homes. The generalizability of these findings to non-American College of Physicians' member internists and other physicians is unknown. Responses may not reflect actual behavior. Most respondents believed that firearm-related violence is a public health issue and favored policy initiatives aimed at reducing it. Although most internists supported a physician's right to counsel patients about gun safety, few reported currently doing it. None.

[Attitudes of alcoholics to addiction-related topics].

PubMed

Wetterling, T; Krömer-Olbrisch, T; Löw, R; Schneider, U

2001-11-01

In Germany the attitudes towards alcohol consumption and smoking are rather heterogeneous. Although it is well accepted that both behaviours are harmful and often lead to addiction, thus far the attitudes of alcoholics to addiction-related topics have not been evaluated. In this investigation 228 alcoholics were asked to complete a questionnaire of addiction-related topics. The attitudes were rather realistic, concerning the harmful effects of alcohol. The beliefs were only slightly influenced by personal involvement (e.g. divorce). Different opinions were given as to the riskiness of illegal drugs. The attitude towards the reasons of alcoholism are most important for therapeutical decisions. Only a third of the patients believed that they themselves were responsible for their addictive behaviour while nearly half accused socioeconomical factors. The curability of their alcoholism as well as their own competence to overcome alcoholism was estimated rather realistically by the patients. The results could not be generalized since the sample mainly consisted of alcoholics who themselves sought an alcohol-specific treatment service. Furthermore the data analysis shows that about 90 % of them regarded themselves as alcoholics. Future studies have to show whether these attitudes differ from those of the general population and from alcoholics not seeking-help.

[Eating attitudes, attitudes related to weight gain, and body satisfaction of pregnant adolescents].

PubMed

Oliboni, Carolina Marques; Alvarenga, Marle Dos Santos

2015-12-01

To assess attitudes about eating, weight gain and body image of pregnant adolescents. Pregnant adolescents (n=67) were assessed using the Body Image Questionnaire, the Attitude towards Weight Gain during Pregnancy scale (AWGP) and questions about risk behaviors for eating disorders and unhealthy weight control practices. Associations between variables were analyzed by ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, Pearson and Spearman tests. The influence of the independent variables regarding skipping meals, body satisfaction and binge eating was evaluated by logistic regression. The average age of the adolescents was 15.3 years (SD=1.14) and their average gestational age was 21.9 weeks (SD=6.53). The average AWGP score was 52.6 points, indicating a positive attitude towards weight gain, and 82.1% of the pregnant girls were satisfied with their bodies. Obese girls had more body dissatisfaction (p=0.001), and overweight girls thought more about food (p=0.02) and eating (p=0.03). The frequency of reported binge eating was 41.8%, and the frequency of skipping meals was 19%. Regression analysis showed that the current Body Mass Index (p=0.03; OR=1.18) and the importance of body awareness and fitness before pregnancy (p=0.03; OR=4.63) were predictors of skipping meals. Higher socioeconomic level (p=0.04; OR=0.55) and greater concern with weight gain (p=0.03; OR=0.32) predicted binge eating. Even though the majority of the pregnant adolescents had positive attitudes toward weight gain and body satisfaction, those heavier and more concerned with weight gain had a higher risk of unhealthy attitudes, while those of lower social class, less concerned with weight gain and less embarrassed about their bodies during pregnancy, had a lower risk of unhealthy attitudes.

Contemporary Japanese view of life and death as depicted in the film Departures (Okuribito).

PubMed

Asai, Atsushi; Fukuyama, Miki; Kobayashi, Yasunori

2010-06-01

Through films, we can see many aspects of a country and its times: culture, morality and religion, and views on life and death. The best films can both entertain audiences and provide viewers with opportunities to think about fundamental human problems. In this article, we use Departures (Okuribito) to examine the contemporary Japanese view of life and death. All sorts of deaths are depicted and each scene provides an insight into the contemporary Japanese view of death. We use the medium of film to consider the issue of death: what death is, the relationship that exists between life and death, and how the impurity and dignity of the dead are recognised by contemporary Japanese people. The ritual of 'encoffinment' will also be discussed, and what it suggests and reveals about Japanese views on what happens to a person when they die, and what requirements exist for someone to be able to depart from this world to the afterlife. The view of death depicted in Departures is thought to accept and even hope for a worldview that postulates continuity between life and death, wherein not only the soul but also personal individuality continues on as it existed in life. The rite of encoffinment is required to relieve the family's grief as well as to wipe away the impurity of the dead. The Japanese traditional view that the 'dead are impure' seems to die hard. It is also suggested that complicated and ambivalent attitudes towards the dead exist among contemporary Japanese people.

Do Spanish Medical Students Understand the Concept of Brain Death?

PubMed

Ríos, Antonio; López-Navas, A; López-López, A; Gómez, F J; Iriarte, J; Herruzo, R; Blanco, G; Llorca, F J; Asunsolo, A; Sánchez, P; Gutiérrez, P R; Fernández, A; de Jesús, M T; Alarcón, L Martínez; Del Olivo, M; Fuentes, L; Hernández, J R; Virseda, J; Yelamos, J; Bondía, J A; Hernández, A M; Ayala, M A; Ramírez, P; Parrilla, P

2018-03-01

To analyze the level of understanding of the brain death concept among medical students in universities in Spain. This cross-sectional sociological, interdisciplinary, and multicenter study was performed on 9598 medical students in Spain. The sample was stratified by geographical area and academic year. A previously validated self-reported measure of brain death knowledge (questionnaire Proyecto Colaborativo Internacional Donante sobre la Donación y Transplante de Organos) was completed anonymously by students. Respondents completed 9275 surveys for a completion rate of 95.7%. Of those, 67% (n = 6190) of the respondents understood the brain death concept. Of the rest, 28% (n = 2652) did not know what it meant, and the remaining 5% (n = 433) believed that it did not mean that the patient was dead. The variables related to a correct understanding of the concept were: (1) being older ( P < .001), (2) studying at a public university ( P < .001), (3) year of medical school ( P < .001), (4) studying at one of the universities in the south of Spain ( P = .003), (5) having discussed donation and transplantation with the family ( P < .001), (6) having spoken to friends about the matter ( P < .001), (7) a partner's favorable attitude toward donation and transplantation ( P < .001), and (8) religious beliefs ( P < .001). Sixty-seven percent of medical students know the concept of brain death, and knowledge improved as they advanced in their degree.

I Can Stomach That! Fearlessness About Death Predicts Attenuated Facial Electromyography Activity in Response to Death-Related Images.

PubMed

Velkoff, Elizabeth A; Forrest, Lauren N; Dodd, Dorian R; Smith, April R

2016-06-01

Objective measures of suicide risk can convey life-saving information to clinicians, but few such measures exist. This study examined an objective measure of fearlessness about death (FAD), testing whether FAD relates to self-reported and physiological aversion to death. Females (n = 87) reported FAD and disgust sensitivity, and facial electromyography was used to measure physiological facial responses consistent with disgust while viewing death-related images. FAD predicted attenuated expression of physiological death aversion, even when controlling for self-reported death-related disgust sensitivity. Diminished physiological aversion to death-related stimuli holds promise as an objective measure of FAD and suicide risk. © 2015 The American Association of Suicidology.

Young Driver Attitude Scale: The Development and Field-Testing of an Instrument To Measure Young Driver Risk-Taking Attitudes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malfetti, James L.; And Others

It has been postulated that young people are open to driving accidents because of age, lack of experience and risk-taking attitudes. The Young Driver Attitude Scale (YDAS) was developed to measure attitudes likely to influence driving practices. Over 200 items relating to the risk-taking attitudes of young people were shown to a small group of…

Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Predicts Environmental Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prokop, Pavol; Kubiatko, Milan

2014-01-01

Investigating predictors of environmental attitudes may bring valuable benefits in terms of improving public awareness about biodiversity degradation and increased pro-environmental behaviour. Here we used an evolutionary approach to study environmental attitudes based on disease-threat model. We hypothesized that people vulnerable to diseases may…

Attitude to rehabilitative counselling in southwestern Nigerian prisons.

PubMed

A Alao, Kayode; F Adebowale, Olusegun

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper was to examine the attitudes of prison inmates and warders (prison staff) to rehabilitative counselling and its relationship to their prison status on one hand and their educational attainment on the other. The study adopts a descriptive survey research design. In all 123 prison inmates and 110 warders were selected by stratified random sampling from Osogbo prison headquarters, as well as Ilesa and Ile-Ife prisons in southwestern Nigeria. Data were collected through a self-constructed questionnaire titled "inmate and prison staff attitude to rehabilitation counselling". Data collected were analysed using percentages and χ2 statistics. The results showed that the prison inmates and staff possessed positive attitude to rehabilitative counselling. No significant difference was found between the attitudes of prison inmates and staff members or on the basis of their prison statuses. However, the study found a significant relationship between the prison inmates' attitude to rehabilitative counselling and their educational attainment. Research LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Statutory provision needs be made for professional rehabilitative counselling in Nigerian prisons in contrast to the religious instructions currently being allowed prisoners. Educational opportunities should be provided to ensure that the knowledge so obtained complements the rehabilitative counselling. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified need to study the attitude towards rehabilitative counselling.

Awareness and Attitude of Select Professionals toward Euthanasia in Delhi, India

PubMed Central

Singh, Sheetal; Gupta, Shakti; Singh, IB; Madaan, Nirupam

2016-01-01

Introduction: The topic of euthanasia has induced differences not only among professionals in the medical fraternity but also in other fields as well. The dying process is being lengthened by the new state of art technologies erupting as such higher pace, and it is at the expense of standard quality of life and of a gracious death. Aim: To study the awareness and attitude toward euthanasia among select professionals in Delhi. Methodology: It was a questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included doctors, nurses, judges, lawyers, journalist, and social activists of Delhi. Tool included a sociodemographic questionnaire, two questions to know awareness regarding euthanasia and a modified euthanasia attitude scale used to measure attitude toward euthanasia. Data were analyzed using Stata 11.2. Results: Through our study, it is evident that professionals who participated in the study (judges, advocates, doctors, nurses, journalists, and social activists) in Delhi were familiar with the term euthanasia. No significant difference was seen in the attitude of professionals of different age group and sex toward euthanasia. Conclusion: Through this study, it is found that judiciary group most strongly endorsed euthanasia. The attitude of doctors was elicited from mixed group with doctors belonging to different specialties. Oncologists are not in favor of any form of euthanasia. However, doctors from other specialties did support euthanasia. PMID:27803572

Awareness and Attitude of Select Professionals toward Euthanasia in Delhi, India.

PubMed

Singh, Sheetal; Gupta, Shakti; Singh, I B; Madaan, Nirupam

2016-01-01

The topic of euthanasia has induced differences not only among professionals in the medical fraternity but also in other fields as well. The dying process is being lengthened by the new state of art technologies erupting as such higher pace, and it is at the expense of standard quality of life and of a gracious death. To study the awareness and attitude toward euthanasia among select professionals in Delhi. It was a questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included doctors, nurses, judges, lawyers, journalist, and social activists of Delhi. Tool included a sociodemographic questionnaire, two questions to know awareness regarding euthanasia and a modified euthanasia attitude scale used to measure attitude toward euthanasia. Data were analyzed using Stata 11.2. Through our study, it is evident that professionals who participated in the study (judges, advocates, doctors, nurses, journalists, and social activists) in Delhi were familiar with the term euthanasia. No significant difference was seen in the attitude of professionals of different age group and sex toward euthanasia. Through this study, it is found that judiciary group most strongly endorsed euthanasia. The attitude of doctors was elicited from mixed group with doctors belonging to different specialties. Oncologists are not in favor of any form of euthanasia. However, doctors from other specialties did support euthanasia.

Causes of Death According to Death Certificates in Individuals with Dementia: A Cohort from the Swedish Dementia Registry.

PubMed

Garcia-Ptacek, Sara; Kåreholt, Ingemar; Cermakova, Pavla; Rizzuto, Debora; Religa, Dorota; Eriksdotter, Maria

2016-11-01

The causes of death in dementia are not established, particularly in rarer dementias. The aim of this study is to calculate risk of death from specific causes for a broader spectrum of dementia diagnoses. Cohort study. Swedish Dementia Registry (SveDem), 2007-2012. Individuals with incident dementia registered in SveDem (N = 28,609); median follow-up 741 days. Observed deaths were 5,368 (19%). Information on number of deaths and causes of mortality was obtained from death certificates. Odds ratios for the presence of dementia on death certificates were calculated. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox hazards regression for cause-specific mortality, using Alzheimer's dementia (AD) as reference. Hazard ratios for death for each specific cause of death were compared with hazard ratios of death from all causes (P-values from t-tests). The most frequent underlying cause of death in this cohort was cardiovascular (37%), followed by dementia (30%). Dementia and cardiovascular causes appeared as main or contributory causes on 63% of certificates, followed by respiratory (26%). Dementia was mentioned less in vascular dementia (VaD; 57%). Compared to AD, cardiovascular mortality was higher in individuals with VaD than in those with AD (HR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.64-2.02). Respiratory death was higher in individuals with Lewy body dementia (LBD, including Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies, HR = 2.16, 95% CI = 1.71-2.71), and the risk of respiratory death was higher than expected from the risk for all-cause mortality. Participants with frontotemporal dementia were more likely to die from external causes of death than those with AD (HR = 2.86, 95% CI = 1.53-5.32). Dementia is underreported on death certificates as main and contributory causes. Individuals with LBD had a higher risk of respiratory death than those with AD. © 2016 The Authors. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley

Using National Inpatient Death Rates as a Benchmark to Identify Hospitals with Inaccurate Cause of Death Reporting - Missouri, 2009-2012.

PubMed

Lloyd, Jennifer; Jahanpour, Ehsan; Angell, Brian; Ward, Craig; Hunter, Andy; Baysinger, Cherri; Turabelidze, George

2017-01-13

Reporting causes of death accurately is essential to public health and hospital-based programs; however, some U.S. studies have identified substantial inaccuracies in cause of death reporting. Using CDC's national inpatient hospital death rates as a benchmark, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) analyzed inpatient death rates reported by hospitals with high inpatient death rates in St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas. Among the selected hospitals with high inpatient death rates, 45.8% of death certificates indicated an underlying cause of death that was inconsistent with CDC's Guidelines for Death Certificate completion. Selected hospitals with high inpatient death rates were more likely to overreport heart disease and renal disease, and underreport cancer as an underlying cause of death. Based on these findings, the Missouri DHSS initiated a new web-based training module for death certificate completion based on the CDC guidelines in an effort to improve accuracy in cause of death reporting.

Transient and sustained neural responses to death-related linguistic cues

PubMed Central

Shi, Zhenhao

2013-01-01

Recent research showed that perception of death-related vs death-unrelated linguistic cues produced increased frontoparietal activity but decreased insular activity. This study investigated (i) whether the increased frontoparietal and decreased insular activities are, respectively, associated with transient trial-specific processes of death-related linguistic cues and sustained death-related thought during death-relevance judgments on linguistic cues and (ii) whether the neural activity underlying death-related thought can predict individuals’ dispositional death anxiety. Participants were presented with death-related/unrelated words, life-related/unrelated words, and negative-valence/neutral words in separate sessions. Participants were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing death-relevance, life-relevance, and valence judgments on the words, respectively. The contrast of death-related vs death-unrelated words during death-relevance judgments revealed transient increased activity in the left inferior parietal lobule, the right frontal eye field, and the right superior parietal lobule. The contrast of death-relevance judgments vs life-relevance/valence judgments showed decreased activity in the bilateral insula. The sustained insular activity was correlated with dispositional death anxiety, but only in those with weak transient frontoparietal responses to death-related words. Our results dissociate the transient and sustained neural responses to death-related linguistic cues and suggest that the combination of the transient and sustained neural activities can predict dispositional death anxiety. PMID:22422804

Death Notification: Someone Needs To Call the Family.

PubMed

Ombres, Rachel; Montemorano, Lauren; Becker, Daniel

2017-06-01

The death notification process can affect family grief and bereavement. It can also affect the well-being of involved physicians. There is no standardized process for making death notification phone calls. We assumed that residents are likely to be unprepared before and troubled after. We investigated current death notification practices to develop an evidence-based template for standardizing this process. We used results of a literature review and open-ended interviews with faculty, residents, and widows to develop a survey regarding resident training and experience in death notification by phone. We invited all internal medicine (IM) residents at our institution to complete the survey. Sixty-seven of 93 IM residents (72%) responded to the survey. Eighty-seven percent of responders reported involvement in a death that required notification by phone. Eighty percent of residents felt inadequately trained for this task. Over 25% reported that calls went poorly. Attendings were involved in 17% of cases. Primary care physicians were not involved. Nurses and chaplains were not involved. Respondents never delayed notification of death until family arrived at the hospital. There was no consistent approach to rehearsing or making the call, advising families about safe travel to the hospital, greeting families upon arrival, or following up with expressions of condolence. Poor communication skills during death notification may contribute to complicated grief for surviving relatives and stress among physicians. This study is the first to describe current practices of death notification by IM residents. More training is needed and could be combined with training in disclosure of medical error.

Prevalence of and attitudes to waterpipe smoking among Saudi Arabian physicians.

PubMed

Al Ghobain, Mohammed; Ahmed, Anwar; Abdrabalnabi, Zynab; Mutairi, Wjdan; Al Khathaami, Ali

2018-06-10

Tobacco smoking kills more than 5 million people annually and it is the most important cause of preventable death. Waterpipe smoking is common in the Middle East and is prevalent among young people. There is a misconception that it is less harmful than cigarette smoking. Physicians are considered role models in the community and their behaviours and attitudes towards smoking can have direct effects on cessation. The aim of this study was to estimate current prevalence, attitudes and associated factors in regard to waterpipe smoking among Saudi Arabian physicians. Using a self-administered questionnaire, we conducted a cross-sectional study among 454 male and female physicians from 3 specialties, and of various levels of training working in 4 hospitals in Riyadh. The prevalence of waterpipe smoking was 45%, greater in men than in women (58% vs 18%; P ≤ 0.001) and in surgical than in medical specialists (58% vs 38%; P ≤ 0.001). More non-smokers than smokers believed that physicians should serve as role models (79% vs 60%; P ≤ 0.001). Physicians who were waterpipe non-smokers had received more formal training about cessation than smokers (50% vs 36%; P ≤ 0.001). Waterpipe smoking among Saudi Arabian physicians is frequent and is associated with low exposure to information about the hazards and cessation during medical education. Copyright © World Health Organization (WHO) 2018. Some rights reserved. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo).

Relation of attitude toward body elimination to parenting style and attitude toward the body.

PubMed

Corgiat, Claudia A; Templer, Donald I

2003-04-01

The purpose was to estimate the relation of attitude toward body elimination in 93 college students (27 men and 66 women), to authoritarian personality features, participants' perception of their mothers' parenting style, and attitudes toward cleanliness, sex, and family nudity. Subjects were administered the Body Elimination Attitude Scale, the Four-item F Scale, the Parental Authority Questionnaire Pertaining to Mothers, and the items "Sex is dirty," "Cleanliness is next to godliness," and "Children should never see other family members nude." Larger scores for disgust toward body elimination were associated with authoritarian personality characteristics, being less likely to describe mother's parenting style as authoritative (open communication) and more likely to describe it as authoritarian and lower scores for tolerance for family nudity. Implications for further research were suggested.

Documenting death: public access to government death records and attendant privacy concerns.

PubMed

Boles, Jeffrey R

2012-01-01

This Article examines the contentious relationship between public rights to access government-held death records and privacy rights concerning the deceased, whose personal information is contained in those same records. This right of access dispute implicates core democratic principles and public policy interests. Open access to death records, such as death certificates and autopsy reports, serves the public interest by shedding light on government agency performance, uncovering potential government wrongdoing, providing data on public health trends, and aiding those investigating family history, for instance. Families of the deceased have challenged the release of these records on privacy grounds, as the records may contain sensitive and embarrassing information about the deceased. Legislatures and the courts addressing this dispute have collectively struggled to reconcile the competing open access and privacy principles. The Article demonstrates how a substantial portion of the resulting law in this area is haphazardly formed, significantly overbroad, and loaded with unintended consequences. The Article offers legal reforms to bring consistency and coherence to this currently disordered area of jurisprudence.

Updates on Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practices on Tuberculosis among Healthcare Workers.

PubMed

Wahab, Farhanah Abd; Abdullah, Sarimah; Abdullah, Jafri Malin; Jaafar, Hasnan; Noor, Siti Suraiya Md; Mohammad, Wan Mohd Zahiruddin Wan; Yusoff, Abdul Aziz Mohamed; Tharakan, John; Bhaskar, Shalini; Sangu, Muthuraju; Mahmood, Mohd Shah; Kassim, Fauziah; Rafia, Md Hanip; Haspani, Mohammed Safari Mohammed; Alias, Azmi; Pando, Rogelio Hernández

2016-11-01

Ranking as the most communicable disease killer worldwide, tuberculosis, has accounted with a total of 9.6 million new tuberculosis cases with 1.5 million tuberculosis-related deaths reported globally in 2014. Tuberculosis has remain as an occupational hazard for healthcare workers since 1920s and due to several tuberculosis outbreaks in healthcare settings in the early 1990s, the concern about the transmission to both patients and healthcare workers has been raised. Healthcare workers have two to three folds greater the risk of active tuberculosis than the general population. Several studies on knowledge, attitude and practices on tuberculosis among healthcare workers worldwide have revealed that majority of the participated healthcare workers had good knowledge on tuberculosis. Most of the healthcare workers from South India and South Africa also reported to have positive attitude whereas a study in Thailand reported that most of the healthcare providers have negative attitude towards tuberculosis patients. Nevertheless, majority of the healthcare workers have low level of practice on tuberculosis prevention. An improved communication between healthcare workers and the patients as well as their families is the key to better therapeutic outcomes with good knowledge, attitude and preventive practice towards tuberculosis.

A Response to the Legitimacy of Brain Death in Islam.

PubMed

Rady, Mohamed Y; Verheijde, Joseph L

2016-08-01

Brain death is a novel construct of death for the procurement of transplantable organs. Many authoritative Islamic organizations and governments have endorsed brain death as true death for organ donation. Many commentators have reiterated the misconception that the Quranic text does not define death. We respond by clarifying: (1) the Quran does define death as biologic disintegration and clearly distinguishes it from the dying process, (2) brain death belongs scientifically within the spectrum of neurologic disorders of consciousness and should not be confused with death, and (3) religious and legal discord about brain death has grown in jurisdictions worldwide. We urge for public transparency and truthfulness about brain death and the accommodation and respect of religious objection to the determination of death by neurologic criteria.

Surveying Graduate Students' Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mason, Andrew; Singh, Chandralekha

2010-01-01

Students' attitudes and approaches to problem solving in physics can profoundly influence their motivation to learn and development of expertise. We developed and validated an Attitudes and Approaches to Problem Solving survey by expanding the Attitudes toward Problem Solving survey of Marx and Cummings and administered it to physics graduate…

Causes of death and associated conditions (Codac): a utilitarian approach to the classification of perinatal deaths.

PubMed

Frøen, J Frederik; Pinar, Halit; Flenady, Vicki; Bahrin, Safiah; Charles, Adrian; Chauke, Lawrence; Day, Katie; Duke, Charles W; Facchinetti, Fabio; Fretts, Ruth C; Gardener, Glenn; Gilshenan, Kristen; Gordijn, Sanne J; Gordon, Adrienne; Guyon, Grace; Harrison, Catherine; Koshy, Rachel; Pattinson, Robert C; Petersson, Karin; Russell, Laurie; Saastad, Eli; Smith, Gordon C S; Torabi, Rozbeh

2009-06-10

A carefully classified dataset of perinatal mortality will retain the most significant information on the causes of death. Such information is needed for health care policy development, surveillance and international comparisons, clinical services and research. For comparability purposes, we propose a classification system that could serve all these needs, and be applicable in both developing and developed countries. It is developed to adhere to basic concepts of underlying cause in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), although gaps in ICD prevent classification of perinatal deaths solely on existing ICD codes.We tested the Causes of Death and Associated Conditions (Codac) classification for perinatal deaths in seven populations, including two developing country settings. We identified areas of potential improvements in the ability to retain existing information, ease of use and inter-rater agreement. After revisions to address these issues we propose Version II of Codac with detailed coding instructions.The ten main categories of Codac consist of three key contributors to global perinatal mortality (intrapartum events, infections and congenital anomalies), two crucial aspects of perinatal mortality (unknown causes of death and termination of pregnancy), a clear distinction of conditions relevant only to the neonatal period and the remaining conditions are arranged in the four anatomical compartments (fetal, cord, placental and maternal).For more detail there are 94 subcategories, further specified in 577 categories in the full version. Codac is designed to accommodate both the main cause of death as well as two associated conditions. We suggest reporting not only the main cause of death, but also the associated relevant conditions so that scenarios of combined conditions and events are captured.The appropriately applied Codac system promises to better manage information on causes of perinatal deaths, the conditions associated with them, and the most

Late Maternal Deaths and Deaths from Sequelae of Obstetric Causes in the Americas from 1999 to 2013: A Trend Analysis.

PubMed

de Cosio, Federico G; Jiwani, Safia S; Sanhueza, Antonio; Soliz, Patricia N; Becerra-Posada, Francisco; Espinal, Marcos A

2016-01-01

Data on maternal deaths occurring after the 42 days postpartum reference time is scarce; the objective of this analysis is to explore the trend and magnitude of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes in the Americas between 1999 and 2013, and to recommend including these deaths in the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Exploratory data analysis enabled analyzing the magnitude and trend of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes for seven countries of the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and the United States. A Poisson regression model was developed to compare trends of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes between two periods of time: 1999 to 2005 and 2006 to 2013; and to estimate the relative increase of these deaths in the two periods of time. The proportion of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes ranged between 2.40% (CI 0.85% - 5.48%) and 18.68% (CI 17.06% - 20.47%) in the seven countries. The ratio of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes per 100,000 live births has increased by two times in the region of the Americas in the period 2006-2013 compared to the period 1999-2005. The regional relative increase of late maternal death was 2.46 (p<0.0001) times higher in the second period compared to the first. Ascertainment of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes has improved in the Americas since the early 2000's due to improvements in the quality of information and the obstetric transition. Late and obstetric sequelae maternal deaths should be included in the monitoring of the SDGs as well as in the revision of the International Classification of Diseases' 11th version (ICD-11).

Attitudes about Death, Dying, and Terminal Care: Differences among Groups at a University Teaching Hospital.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatfield, C. B.; And Others

1983-01-01

Studied attitudes of eight hospital groups on several aspects of terminal care by means of a questionnaire. Responses of the groups, which included physicians, residents, nurses, aides, and orderlies, did not differ on general statements about terminal care. On more specific statements perception of personal involvement influenced responses.…

[Multivariate study of the psychosocial factors affecting public attitude towards organ donation].

PubMed

Conesa, C; Ríos, A; Ramírez, P; Canteras, M; Rodríguez, M M; Parrilla, P

2005-01-01

Organ transplantation is a therapy which depends on society for its development. The objectives here are: 1) to understand the structure of public opinion towards organ donation in the population aged over 15 years of age in our Community; 2) to analyse the psychosocial variables which affect this opinion and 3) to define the population profiles on this matter. Random sample (n = 2.000) stratified for age, sex and geographical location (error for 95.5%, e +/- 2.24) to whom we apply a questionnaire about the psychosocial aspects of organ donation. Descriptive statistics, Student's t-test, Chi-squared test and logistical regression analysis. 63% have a favourable attitude towards organ donation, of which 11% have a donor's card. A statistical association has been observed between favourable public opinion and different psychosocial variables (p < 0.05), with some independent variables persisting in the multivariate analysis such as age, level of education (OR = 1.78), information given by family members (OR = 1.62), health workers (OR = 2.01) and talks in educational centres (OR = 2.13); previous experience with donation and transplantation (OR = 2.02), knowledge of the concept of brain death (OR = 1.4); partner's favourable opinion towards donation (OR = 2.6), being a blood donor (OR = 3), taking part in prosocial activities (OR = 1.6) and attitude towards incineration of the cadaver after death (OR = 1.8). The profile of a person who is against donation is of a man or woman, > 50 years of age, with primary studies or below, with no previous experience of the matter, who does not understand the concept of brain death nor their partner's opinion towards donation, who has not found out any information about donation through specialised forums, with an unfavourable opinion towards blood donation or pro-social activities and who is fearful of manipulation of the cadaver after death.

Application of GPS attitude determination to gravity gradient stabilized spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lightsey, E. G.; Cohen, Clark E.; Parkinson, Bradford W.

1993-01-01

Recent advances in the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology have initiated a new era in aerospace navigation and control. GPS receivers have become increasingly compact and affordable, and new developments have made attitude determination using subcentimeter positioning among two or more antennas feasible for real-time applications. GPS-based attitude control systems will become highly portable packages which provide time, navigation, and attitude information of sufficient accuracy for many aerospace needs. A typical spacecraft application of GPS attitude determination is a gravity gradient stabilized satellite in low Earth orbit that employs a GPS receiver and four body mounted patch antennas. The coupled, linearized equations of motion enable complete position and attitude information to be extracted from only two antennas. A discussion of the various error sources for spaceborne GPS attitude measurement systems is included. Attitude determination of better than 0.3 degrees is possible for 1 meter antenna separation. Suggestions are provided to improve the accuracy of the attitude solution.

Neonatal Death

MedlinePlus

... Home > Complications & Loss > Loss & grief > Neonatal death Neonatal death E-mail to a friend Please fill in ... cope with your baby’s death. What is neonatal death? Neonatal death is when a baby dies in ...

Death Notification: Someone Needs To Call the Family

PubMed Central

Ombres, Rachel; Montemorano, Lauren

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: The death notification process can affect family grief and bereavement. It can also affect the well-being of involved physicians. There is no standardized process for making death notification phone calls. We assumed that residents are likely to be unprepared before and troubled after. Objective: We investigated current death notification practices to develop an evidence-based template for standardizing this process. Design: We used results of a literature review and open-ended interviews with faculty, residents, and widows to develop a survey regarding resident training and experience in death notification by phone. Setting/Subjects: We invited all internal medicine (IM) residents at our institution to complete the survey. Measurements: Sixty-seven of 93 IM residents (72%) responded to the survey. Eighty-seven percent of responders reported involvement in a death that required notification by phone. Results: Eighty percent of residents felt inadequately trained for this task. Over 25% reported that calls went poorly. Attendings were involved in 17% of cases. Primary care physicians were not involved. Nurses and chaplains were not involved. Respondents never delayed notification of death until family arrived at the hospital. There was no consistent approach to rehearsing or making the call, advising families about safe travel to the hospital, greeting families upon arrival, or following up with expressions of condolence. Conclusions: Poor communication skills during death notification may contribute to complicated grief for surviving relatives and stress among physicians. This study is the first to describe current practices of death notification by IM residents. More training is needed and could be combined with training in disclosure of medical error. PMID:28099046

Death related to dental treatment: a systematic review.

PubMed

Reuter, Nathan G; Westgate, Philip M; Ingram, Mark; Miller, Craig S

2017-02-01

The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with death in relation to dental care. A systematic review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed, Dental and Oral Sciences Source, Web of Science, and the Cochrane database were searched, and the references of all retrieved articles were analyzed. Studies were included if death had occurred within 90 days of the dental appointment, and if the patient's age, procedure, and information regarding cause or time of death were provided. Factors associated with death were assessed by multivariate analyses and logistic regression. Fifty-six publications, including retrospective studies and case reports/series that reported 148 fatalities, were analyzed. On average, 2.6 deaths were reported per year. The leading cause of deaths was anesthesia/sedation/medication-related complications (n = 70). Other causes were cardiovascular events (n = 31), infection (n = 19), airway-respiratory complications (n = 18), bleeding (n = 5), and others (n = 5). Age (P < .0001), disease severity (P < .02), disease stability (P < .006), dental provider characteristics (P < .05), level of consciousness/sedation (P < .02), and drug effects (P < .03) had significant associations with death. Reports of death were rare; however, specific risk factors associated with dentistry were identified. A better understanding of these factors is important for the development of guidelines that help prevent fatalities in dentistry. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attitudes to legalizing cannabis use.

PubMed

Williams, Jenny; van Ours, Jan C; Grossman, Michael

2016-09-01

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between cannabis use and attitudes to legalizing the use of cannabis. Predictions from theory provide a means of learning about the roles of information, self interest and regret in explaining differences in attitudes to legalization between those who currently use, those who have used in the past and those who have never used. Our empirical investigation suggests that users have a greater awareness of cannabis not being as harmful as abstainers think it is. This may explain why individuals are more inclined to be in favor of legalizing cannabis once they have used it themselves. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Physiology declines prior to death in Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Shahrestani, Parvin; Tran, Xuan; Mueller, Laurence D

2012-10-01

For a period of 6-15 days prior to death, the fecundity and virility of Drosophila melanogaster fall significantly below those of same-aged flies that are not near death. It is likely that other aspects of physiology may decline during this period. This study attempts to document changes in two physiological characteristics prior to death: desiccation resistance and time-in-motion. Using individual fecundity estimates and previously described models, it is possible to accurately predict which flies in a population are near death at any given age; these flies are said to be in the "death spiral". In this study of approximately 7,600 females, we used cohort mortality data and individual fecundity estimates to dichotomize each of five replicate populations of same-aged D. melanogaster into "death spiral" and "non-spiral" groups. We then compared these groups for two physiological characteristics that decline during aging. We describe the statistical properties of a new multivariate test statistic that allows us to compare the desiccation resistance and time-in-motion for two populations chosen on the basis of their fecundity. This multivariate representation of the desiccation resistance and time-in-motion of spiral and non-spiral females was shown to be significantly different with the spiral females characterized by lower desiccation resistance and time spent in motion. Our results suggest that D. melanogaster may be used as a model organism to study physiological changes that occur when death is imminent.

The Traditional Model Does Not Explain Attitudes Toward Euthanasia: A Web-Based Survey of the General Public in Finland.

PubMed

Terkamo-Moisio, Anja; Kvist, Tarja; Laitila, Teuvo; Kangasniemi, Mari; Ryynänen, Olli-Pekka; Pietilä, Anna-Maija

2017-08-01

The debate about euthanasia is ongoing in several countries including Finland. However, there is a lack of information on current attitudes toward euthanasia among general Finnish public. The traditional model for predicting individuals' attitudes to euthanasia is based on their age, gender, educational level, and religiosity. However, a new evaluation of religiosity is needed due to the limited operationalization of this factor in previous studies. This study explores the connections between the factors of the traditional model and the attitudes toward euthanasia among the general public in the Finnish context. The Finnish public's attitudes toward euthanasia have become remarkably more positive over the last decade. Further research is needed on the factors that predict euthanasia attitudes. We suggest two different explanatory models for consideration: one that emphasizes the value of individual autonomy and another that approaches euthanasia from the perspective of fears of death or the process of dying.

Investigating the factors that affect the communication of death-related bad news to people with intellectual disabilities by staff in residential and supported living services: An interview study.

PubMed

Tuffrey-Wijne, I; Rose, T

2017-08-01

Most staff working in intellectual disability services will be confronted with people with intellectual disabilities who need support around death, dying and bereavement. Previous studies suggest that intellectual disability staff tend to protect clients from knowing about death and avoid communication about death. The aims of this study were to gain further insight into the individual, organisational and contextual factors that affect the communication of death-related bad news to people with intellectual disabilities by intellectual disability staff and to develop guidelines for services to enable appropriate communication with clients about death and dying. Semi-structured interviews were held with 20 social care staff working in intellectual disability residential or supported living services in London, who had supported a client affected by death-related bad news in the past 6 months. Staff found supporting people with intellectual disabilities around death and dying extremely difficult and tended to avoid communication about death. The following factors had a particularly strong influence on staff practice around communicating death-related bad news: fear and distress around death; life and work experience; and organisational culture. Staff attitudes to death communication had a stronger influence than their client's level of cognitive or communicative abilities. Managers were important role models. Service managers should ensure not only that all their staff receive training in death, loss and communication but also that staff are enabled to reflect on their practice, through emotional support, supervision and team discussions. Future work should focus on the development and testing of strategies to enable intellectual disability staff to support their clients in the areas of dying, death and bereavement. © 2017 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Parental grief after a child's drug death compared to other death causes: investigating a greatly neglected bereavement population.

PubMed

Feigelman, William; Jordan, John R; Gorman, Bernard S

2011-01-01

This comparative survey contrasted 571 parents who lost children to various death causes: 48 to drug-related deaths and overdoses, 462 to suicide, 24 to natural death cases, and 37 to mostly accidental death cases. Groups were compared in terms of grief difficulties, mental health problems, posttraumatic stress, and stigmatization. Results did not show any appreciable differences in these respects between the suicide bereaved parents and those losing children to drug-related deaths. However, when the suicide and drug-related death survivors were specifically contrasted against accidental and natural death loss cases, a consistent pattern emerged showing the former group was consistently more troubled by grief and mental health problems than the latter two sub-groups. These differences remained when controls of time since the loss and gender differences were employed as covariates. These findings suggest that the powerful and intense stigma against drug use and mental illness, shared among the public-at-large, imposes challenges in healing of immense proportion for these parents as they find less compassionate responses from their significant others, following their losses.

Staggering Inflation To Stabilize Attitude of a Solar Sail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quadrelli, Marco; West, John

2007-01-01

A document presents computational-simulation studies of a concept for stabilizing the attitude of a spacecraft during deployment of such structures as a solar sail or other structures supported by inflatable booms. Specifically, the solar sail considered in this paper is a square sail with inflatable booms and attitude control vanes at the corners. The sail inflates from its stowed configuration into a square sail with four segments and four vanes at the tips. Basically, the concept is one of controlling the rates of inflation of the booms to utilize in mass-distribution properties to effect changes in the system s angular momentum. More specifically, what was studied were the effects of staggering inflation of each boom by holding it at constant length for specified intervals between intervals of increasing length until full length is reached. The studies included sensitivity analyses of effects of variations in mass properties, boom lengths, rates of increase in boom length, initial rates of rotation of the spacecraft, and several asymmetries that could arise during deployment. The studies led to the conclusion that the final attitude of the spacecraft could be modified by varying the parameters of staggered inflation. Computational studies also showed that by feeding back attitude and attitude-rate measurements so that corrective action is taken during the deployment, the final attitude can be maintained very closely to the initial attitude, thus mitigating the attitude changes incurred during deployment and caused by modeling errors. Moreover, it was found that by optimizing the ratio between the holding and length-increasing intervals in deployment of a boom, one could cause deployment to track a desired deployment profile to place the entire spacecraft in a desired attitude at the end of deployment.

Late Maternal Deaths and Deaths from Sequelae of Obstetric Causes in the Americas from 1999 to 2013: A Trend Analysis

PubMed Central

de Cosio, Federico G.; Sanhueza, Antonio; Soliz, Patricia N.; Becerra-Posada, Francisco; Espinal, Marcos A.

2016-01-01

Background Data on maternal deaths occurring after the 42 days postpartum reference time is scarce; the objective of this analysis is to explore the trend and magnitude of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes in the Americas between 1999 and 2013, and to recommend including these deaths in the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Methods Exploratory data analysis enabled analyzing the magnitude and trend of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes for seven countries of the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and the United States. A Poisson regression model was developed to compare trends of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes between two periods of time: 1999 to 2005 and 2006 to 2013; and to estimate the relative increase of these deaths in the two periods of time. Findings The proportion of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes ranged between 2.40% (CI 0.85% – 5.48%) and 18.68% (CI 17.06% – 20.47%) in the seven countries. The ratio of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes per 100,000 live births has increased by two times in the region of the Americas in the period 2006-2013 compared to the period 1999-2005. The regional relative increase of late maternal death was 2.46 (p<0.0001) times higher in the second period compared to the first. Interpretation Ascertainment of late maternal deaths and deaths from sequelae of obstetric causes has improved in the Americas since the early 2000’s due to improvements in the quality of information and the obstetric transition. Late and obstetric sequelae maternal deaths should be included in the monitoring of the SDGs as well as in the revision of the International Classification of Diseases’ 11th version (ICD-11). PMID:27626277

Attitudes toward organ donation in rural areas of southeastern Spain.

PubMed

Conesa, C; Ríos, A; Ramírez, P; Cantéras, M; Rodríguez, M M; Parrilla, P

2006-04-01

Rural areas present a worse attitude toward organ donation. However, the factors conditioning this attitude are not well known. Our aim was to determine the profile of the population opposed to donation in rural areas. A random sample stratified by age and sex was obtained from municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants. Attitudes toward donation were assessed by a questionnaire which evaluated variables that may influence these attitudes. A descriptive statistical study used the Student t test and chi-square test as well as a logistic regression analysis. Among 181 respondents, 63% were in favor of donation and 37% against or undecided. Among the reasons to be against donation were rejection of body mutilation (43%) and fear of apparent death (41%). The psychosocial variables against donation were age >or=44 years, primary education or below, no previous experience with donation, no prosocial activities, an unfavorable opinion of the partner, and fear of corpse mutilation. The variables persisting in the multivariate analysis were level of education, previous experience, prosocial activities, and fear of corpse manipulation. Among the rural population the profile of a person opposed to donation was someone older than 44 years, with a low level of education and no previous experience with donation, who does not participate in prosocial activities and is opposed to corpse manipulation.

Stakeholders' attitude to genetically modified foods and medicine.

PubMed

Amin, Latifah; Jahi, Jamaluddin Md; Nor, Abd Rahim Md

2013-01-01

Public acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods has to be adequately addressed in order for their potential economic and social benefits to be realized. The objective of this paper is to assess the attitude of the Malaysian public toward GM foods (GM soybean and GM palm oil) and GM medicine (GM insulin). A survey was carried out using self-constructed multidimensional instrument measuring attitudes towards GM products. The respondents (n = 1017) were stratified according to stakeholders' groups in the Klang Valley region. Results of the survey show that the overall attitude of the Malaysian stakeholders towards GM products was cautious. Although they acknowledged the presence of moderate perceived benefits associated with GM products surveyed and were moderately encouraging of them, they were also moderately concerned about the risks and moral aspects of the three GM products as well as moderately accepting the risks. Attitudes towards GM products among the stakeholders were found to vary not according to the type of all GM applications but rather depend on the intricate relationships between the attitudinal factors and the type of gene transfers involved. Analyses of variance showed significant differences in the six dimensions of attitude towards GM products across stakeholders' groups.

Writing-to-Learn: Attitudes of nursing students at Sultan Qaboos University.

PubMed

Balachandran, Shreedevi; Venkatesaperumal, Ramesh; Clara, Jothi; Shukri, Raghda K

2014-02-01

The objectives of this study were to assess the attitude of Omani nursing students towards writing-to-learn (WTL) and its relationship to demographic variables, self-efficacy and the writing process. A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate attitudes towards WTL by Sultan Qaboos University nursing students. A convenience sample of 106 students was used and data collected between October 2009 and March 2010. A modified version of the WTL attitude scale developed by Dobie and Poirrier was used to collect the data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. Senior and junior students had more positive attitudes to WTL than mid-level students who tended to have negative attitudes towards writing. Although 52.8% students had negative attitudes towards the writing process, the median was higher for attitudes to the writing process compared to the median for self-efficacy. There was a positive correlation between self-efficacy and writing process scores. Overall, students had negative attitudes towards WTL. Attitudes are learnt or formed through previous experiences. The incorporation of WTL strategies into teaching can transform students' negative attitudes towards writing into positive ones.

Drama as a pedagogical tool for practicing death notification-experiences from Swedish medical students.

PubMed

Nordström, Anna; Fjellman-Wiklund, Anncristine; Grysell, Tomas

2011-09-28

One of the toughest tasks in any profession is the deliverance of death notification. Marathon Death is an exercise conducted during the fourth year of medical school in northern Sweden to prepare students for this responsibility. The exercise is designed to enable students to gain insight into the emotional and formal procedure of delivering death notifications. The exercise is inspired by Augusto Boal's work around Forum Theatre and is analyzed using video playback. The aim of the study was to explore reflections, attitudes and ideas toward training in delivering death notifications among medical students who participate in the Marathon Death exercise based on forum play. After participation in the Marathon Death exercise, students completed semi-structured interviews. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using the principles of qualitative content analysis including a deductive content analysis approach with a structured matrix based on Bloom's taxonomy domains. The Marathon Death exercise was perceived as emotionally loaded, realistic and valuable for the future professional role as a physician. The deliverance of a death notification to the next of kin that a loved one has died was perceived as difficult. The exercise conjured emotions such as positive expectations and sheer anxiety. Students perceived participation in the exercise as an important learning experience, discovering that they had the capacity to manage such a difficult situation. The feedback from the video playback of the exercise and the feedback from fellow students and teachers enhanced the learning experience. The exercise, Marathon Death, based on forum play with video playback is a useful pedagogical tool that enables students to practice delivering death notification. The ability to practice under realistic conditions contributes to reinforce students in preparation for their future professional role.

Organizational Responses to Death in the Military.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bartone, Paul T.; Ender, Morten G.

1994-01-01

Notes that how organizations respond to a death can influence coping in either positive or negative directions for friends and co-workers of the deceased. Reviews how casualty policies have developed in U.S. Army, and draws on Army's casualty experience to suggest ways in which organizational responses to death might facilitate healthy adjustment…

A safe way to talk about death.

PubMed

2016-11-09

Could a learning disability-specific death cafe be the key to initiating conversations about death and dying in a safe way? Paula Hopes writes in Learning Disability Practice about a conference on breaking bad news and noted that while some people with learning disabilities were ready to deal with the issues, healthcare professionals were not. Reasons varied from protecting people with learning disabilities to the assumption that they cannot cope with or understand the information. Ms Hopes says nurses should be advocates for people with learning disabilities and provide them with information to engage them in the process of dying. A learning disability-specific death cafe could support nurses to develop confidence in discussing this sensitive issue.

Factors contributing to attitude exchange amongst preservice elementary teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmer, David H.

2002-01-01

Previous research has shown that elementary education majors often dislike science and lack confidence in their ability to teach it. This is an important problem because students who hold these attitudes are likely to avoid teaching science, or teach it poorly, when they become teachers. It is therefore necessary to identify preservice elementary teachers who hold negative attitudes towards science, and attempt to convert these attitudes to positive before they become teachers. This study was designed to identify students whose attitudes had changed from negative to positive (i.e., attitude exchange had occurred) after participating in a one-semester elementary science education course, and to identify the course factors that were responsible. Four participants were individually interviewed. The transcripts indicated that attitude exchange had occurred for each of the four students. Each student described several features of the course that had a positive influence. These were of three main types: personal attributes of the tutor, specific teaching strategies, and external validation. It was proposed that many of the individual factors were effective because they represented either performance accomplishments or vicarious experience as defined by Bandura (Psychological Review, 84, 1977, 191-215).

The Effects of Death Anxiety and Mode of "Case Study" Presentation on Shifts of Attitude toward Euthanasia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hart, Edward J.

1978-01-01

College students (N = 18) were randomized to one of two experimental treatments: a video tape presentation of a burn victim, and a written narrative of the same "case study." There appeared to be significant differences in attitudes toward euthanasia between experimental groups. (Authors)

Suicide Ideation Associations with Attitudes toward Suicide, Quality of Life, and Attitudes toward Death and Dying among Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese High School Seniors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kay, Noy S.; Jantaraweragul, Sudgasame; Kanungsukkasem, Vijit; Li, Kaigang; Jones, Megan R.; Huang, Yan

2012-01-01

Suicide of an individual could leave devastating consequences for family, friends, relatives, and society. Suicide could be considered a serious concern and issue to public health, especially among adolescents. The purpose of the study was to examine associations of suicide ideation with attitudes toward suicide (ATS), quality of life (QOL), and…

Epidemiology of drowning deaths in the Philippines, 1980 to 2011.

PubMed

Martinez, Rammell Eric; Go, John Juliard; Guevarra, Jonathan

2016-01-01

Drowning kills 372 000 people yearly worldwide and is a serious public health issue in the Philippines. This study aims to determine if the drowning death rates in the Philippine Health Statistics (PHS) reports from 1980 to 2011 were underestimated. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted to describe the trend of deaths caused by drowning in the Philippines from official and unofficial sources in the period 1980 to 2011. Information about deaths related to cataclysmic causes, particularly victims of storms and floods, and maritime accidents in the Philippines during the study period were reviewed and compared with the PHS drowning death data. An average of 2496 deaths per year caused by drowning were recorded in the PHS reports from 1980 to 2011 (range 671-3656). The average death rate was 3.5/100 000 population (range 1.3-4.7). An average of 4196 drowning deaths were recorded from 1980 to 2011 (range 1220 to 8788) when catacylsmic events and maritime accidents were combined with PHS data. The average death rate was 6/100 000 population (range 2.5-14.2). Our results showed that on average there were 1700 more drowning deaths per year when deaths caused by cataclysms and maritime accidents were added to the PHS data. This illustrated that drowning deaths were underestimated in the official surveillance data. Passive surveillance and irregular data management are contributing to underestimation of drowning in the Philippines. Additionally, deaths due to flooding, storms and maritime accidents are not counted as drowning deaths, which further contributes to the underestimation. Surveillance of drowning data can be improved using more precise case definitions and a multisectoral approach.

Attitude of the Saudi community towards heart donation, transplantation, and artificial hearts.

PubMed

AlHabeeb, Waleed; AlAyoubi, Fakhr; Tash, Adel; AlAhmari, Leenah; AlHabib, Khalid F

2017-07-01

To understand the attitudes of the Saudi population towards heart donation and transplantation. Methods: A survey using a questionnaire addressing attitudes towards organ transplantation and donation was conducted across 18 cities in Saudi Arabia between September 2015 and March 2016.  Results: A total of 1250 respondents participated in the survey. Of these, approximately 91% agree with the concept of organ transplantation but approximately 17% do not agree with the concept of heart transplantation; 42.4% of whom reject heart transplants for religious reasons. Only 43.6% of respondents expressed a willingness to donate their heart and approximately 58% would consent to the donation of a relative's organ after death. A total of 59.7% of respondents believe that organ donation is regulated and 31.8% fear that the doctors will not try hard enough to save their lives if they consent to organ donation. Approximately 77% believe the heart is removed while the donor is alive; although, the same proportion of respondents thought they knew what brain death meant. Conclusion: In general, the Saudi population seem to accept the concept of transplantation and are willing to donate, but still hold some reservations towards heart donation.

Changing epidemiology of trauma deaths leads to a bimodal distribution

PubMed Central

Gunst, Mark; Ghaemmaghami, Vafa; Gruszecki, Amy; Urban, Jill; Frankel, Heidi

2010-01-01

Injury mortality was classically described with a trimodal distribution, with immediate deaths at the scene, early deaths due to hemorrhage, and late deaths from organ failure. We hypothesized that the development of trauma systems has improved prehospital care, early resuscitation, and critical care and altered this pattern. This population-based study of all trauma deaths in an urban county with a mature trauma system reviewed data for 678 patients (median age, 33 years; 81% male; 43% gunshot, 20% motor vehicle crashes). Deaths were classified as immediate (scene), early (in hospital, ≤4 hours from injury), or late (>4 hours after injury). Multinomial regression was used to identify independent predictors of immediate and early versus late deaths, adjusted for age, gender, race, intention, mechanism, toxicology, and cause of death. Results showed 416 (61%) immediate, 199 (29%) early, and 63 (10%) late deaths. Compared with the classical description, the percentage of immediate deaths remained unchanged, and early deaths occurred much earlier (median 52 vs 120 minutes). However, unlike the classic trimodal distribution, the late peak was greatly diminished. Intentional injuries, alcohol intoxication, asphyxia, and injuries to the head and chest were independent predictors of immediate death. Alcohol intoxication and injuries to the chest were predictors of early death, while pelvic fractures and blunt assaults were associated with late deaths. In conclusion, trauma deaths now have a predominantly bimodal distribution. Near elimination of the late peak likely represents advancements in resuscitation and critical care that have reduced organ failure. Further reductions in mortality will likely come from prevention of intentional injuries and injuries associated with alcohol intoxication. PMID:20944754

Belief in miracles and attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia.

PubMed

Sharp, Shane

2017-04-01

Results of logistic regression analysis of data from the General Social Survey (N = 1,799) find that those who have a strong belief in miracles are more likely to say that a person with an incurable illness should not be allowed to accept medical treatments that painlessly hasten death than those who have a less strong belief in miracles or do not believe in miracles, net of respondents' religious affiliations, frequency of religious attendance, views of the Bible, and other sociodemographic controls. Results highlight the need to consider specific religious beliefs when predicting individuals' attitudes towards voluntary euthanasia.

Death: a foe to be conquered? Questioning the paradigm.

PubMed

Gellie, Anthea; Mills, Amber; Levinson, Michele; Stephenson, Gemma; Flynn, Eleanor

2015-01-01

There are few certainties in life-death is one of them. Yet death is often thought of today as the 'loss of the battle' against illness, where in traditional societies it was the natural, meaningful, end to life. Medical knowledge and technologies have extended the possibilities of medical care and increased our life span. People living in most developed countries today can expect to survive to an advanced age and die in hospital rather than at home as in the past. Owing to these and other historical, cultural and social factors, our views on death have been skewed. Medical technology provides an arsenal of weapons to launch against death and the 'war against disease' has entrenched itself in medical philosophy. We now primarily experience death through the lens of a camera. Representations of 'death as spectacle' distort our perceptions and leave us ill-prepared for the reality. Additionally, death as a natural consequence of life has become much less visible than it was in the past due to our longer life expectancies and lack of infectious disease. The continued thrust for treatment, wedded with a failure to recognise the dying process, can rob individuals of a peaceful, dignified death. Progress being made in Advance Care Planning and palliative care is limited by the existing paradigm of death as a 'foe to be conquered'. It is time for a shift in this paradigm. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs Toward Organ Donation Among Social Media Users.

PubMed

Hajjar, W M; Bin Abdulqader, S A; Aldayel, S S; Alfardan, A W; Alzaidy, N I

2016-09-01

Organ transplantation is the optimal treatment for end-stage organ diseases. The demand for organs has exceeded the available supply, which becomes a major obstacle worldwide. Identifying the factors affecting this gap will help in overcoming this obstacle. The purpose of the work was to study the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of organ donation and to determine the knowledge of brain death among social media users. A cross-sectional study was conducted among social media users living in Saudi Arabia. A pre-designed self-administrated questionnaire was distributed online randomly on social media networks in 2015. Of the total 1368 participants, only 913 met the criteria. Most respondents were between 18 and 29 years of age (61.2%) and living in the central region of Saudi Arabia (64.5%). The majority of respondents received their information from television (57%) and social media (50%) networks; 46.4% of respondents knew that the religious fatwa allowed organ donation; 51% of respondents were willing to donate their organs; 46.5% considered the brain-dead to be deceased, whereas 37.7% considered it a coma; 33.3% did not know if someone who was brain-dead would ever wake up; on the other hand, 323 (35.4%) said yes. Our study showed that the vast majority of our sample had enough information about organ donation. On the contrary, they had minimal knowledge about brain death. Moreover, a fair percentage of the participants had positive attitudes toward organ donation. Also, the media had a significant effect on the information about organ donation and brain death. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Watching the detectives: crime programming, fear of crime, and attitudes about the criminal justice system.

PubMed

Kort-Butler, Lisa A; Sittner Hartshorn, Kelley J

2011-01-01

Research demonstrates a complex relationship between television viewing and fear of crime. Social critics assert that media depictions perpetuate the dominant cultural ideology about crime and criminal justice. This article examines whether program type differentially affects fear of crime and perceptions of the crime rate. Next, it tests whether such programming differentially affects viewers' attitudes about the criminal justice system, and if these relationships are mediated by fear. Results indicated that fear mediated the relationship between viewing nonfictional shows and lack of support for the justice system. Viewing crime dramas predicted support for the death penalty, but this relationship was not mediated by fear. News viewership was unrelated to either fear or attitudes. The results support the idea that program type matters when it comes to understanding people's fear of crime and their attitudes about criminal justice.

It's all in the attitude: The role of job attitude strength in job attitude-outcome relationships.

PubMed

Schleicher, Deidra J; Smith, Troy A; Casper, Wendy J; Watt, John D; Greguras, Gary J

2015-07-01

Integrating attitude theory with the job attitudes literature, we position job attitude strength (JAS) as a missing yet important theoretical concept in the study of job attitudes. We examine JAS as a moderator of the relationship between job satisfaction and several criteria of interest to organizational scholars (job performance, organizational citizenship behavior, withdrawal). We also examine multiple relevant indicators of JAS (i.e., attitude certainty, attitude extremity, latitude of rejection, and structural consistency), both to shed light on its conceptual nature and to provide meaningful practical direction to researchers interested in incorporating JAS into job attitude research. Data were collected in five field samples (total N = 816). Results support our hypotheses: JAS moderates the relationships between job satisfaction and performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intentions; in each case, these relationships are significantly stronger for employees with stronger job satisfaction attitudes. However, as expected, not all JAS indicators are equally effective as moderators. We discuss our findings in terms of their theoretical, empirical, and practical implications for the future study of job attitudes. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

A new instrument to measure pre-service primary teachers' attitudes to teaching mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nisbet, Steven

1991-06-01

This article outlines the development of an instrument to measure pre-service primary teachers' attitudes to teaching mathematics. A trial questionnaire was devised using the set of Fennema-Sherman scales on students' attitudes to the subject mathematics as a model. Analysis of the responses to the questionnaire by 155 student teachers was carried out to develop meaningful attitude scales and to refine the instrument. The end-product is a new instrument which can be used to monitor the attitudes of student teachers. The attitude scales identified in the analysis and built into the final form of the questionnaire are (i) anxiety, (ii) confidence and enjoyment, (iii) desire for recognition and (iv) pressure to conform.

Deliberating death.

PubMed

Landes, Scott D

2010-01-01

Utilizing a particular case study of a woman attempting to come to terms with her death, this article explores the difficult metaphors of death present within the Christian tradition. Tracing a Christian understanding of death back to the work of Augustine, the case study is utilized to highlight the difficulties presented by past and present theology embracing ideas of punishment within death. Following the trajectory of the case study, alternative understandings of death present in recent Christian theology and within Native American spirituality are presented in an attempt to find room for a fuller meaning of death post-reconciliation, but premortem.

Development of Physics Attitude Scale (PAS): An Instrument to Measure Students' Attitudes toward Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaur, Daisy; Zhao, Yi

2017-01-01

The present study is focused on the detailed description of Physics Attitude Scale (PAS) to measure students' attitudes toward physics. The development of this new instrument involved extensive interviews with both the experts as well as the students. This was followed by expert reviews and pilot testing of the instrument. The duly revised draft…

Two cases of death due to plastic bag suffocation.

PubMed

Nadesan, K; Beng, O B

2001-01-01

Deaths due to plastic bag suffocation or plastic bag asphyxia are not reported in Malaysia. In the West many suicides by plastic bag asphyxia, particularly in the elderly and those who are chronically and terminally ill, have been reported. Accidental deaths too are not uncommon in the West, both among small children who play with shopping bags and adolescents who are solvent abusers. Another well-known but not so common form of accidental death from plastic bag asphyxia is sexual asphyxia, which is mostly seen among adult males. Homicide by plastic bag asphyxia too is reported in the West and the victims are invariably infants or adults who are frail or terminally ill and who cannot struggle. Two deaths due to plastic bag asphyxia are presented. Both the autopsies were performed at the University Hospital Mortuary, Kuala Lumpur. Both victims were 50-year old married Chinese males. One death was diagnosed as suicide and the other as sexual asphyxia. Sexual asphyxia is generally believed to be a problem associated exclusively with the West. Specific autopsy findings are often absent in deaths due to plastic bag asphyxia and therefore such deaths could be missed when some interested parties have altered the scene and most importantly have removed the plastic bag. A visit to the scene of death is invariably useful.

Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Suicide: Does Knowledge that the Parents Are Divorced Make a Difference?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, Jeffie A.; And Others

1986-01-01

High school students (N=120) read versions of teenager's death in which teenager lived either with both parents or with divorced mother, and died from either a rare disease or suicide. Students reported comparatively negative attitudes toward suicide victims and families and toward divorced parents and their children. Combination of divorce and…

Causes of death and associated conditions (Codac) – a utilitarian approach to the classification of perinatal deaths

PubMed Central

Frøen, J Frederik; Pinar, Halit; Flenady, Vicki; Bahrin, Safiah; Charles, Adrian; Chauke, Lawrence; Day, Katie; Duke, Charles W; Facchinetti, Fabio; Fretts, Ruth C; Gardener, Glenn; Gilshenan, Kristen; Gordijn, Sanne J; Gordon, Adrienne; Guyon, Grace; Harrison, Catherine; Koshy, Rachel; Pattinson, Robert C; Petersson, Karin; Russell, Laurie; Saastad, Eli; Smith, Gordon CS; Torabi, Rozbeh

2009-01-01

A carefully classified dataset of perinatal mortality will retain the most significant information on the causes of death. Such information is needed for health care policy development, surveillance and international comparisons, clinical services and research. For comparability purposes, we propose a classification system that could serve all these needs, and be applicable in both developing and developed countries. It is developed to adhere to basic concepts of underlying cause in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), although gaps in ICD prevent classification of perinatal deaths solely on existing ICD codes. We tested the Causes of Death and Associated Conditions (Codac) classification for perinatal deaths in seven populations, including two developing country settings. We identified areas of potential improvements in the ability to retain existing information, ease of use and inter-rater agreement. After revisions to address these issues we propose Version II of Codac with detailed coding instructions. The ten main categories of Codac consist of three key contributors to global perinatal mortality (intrapartum events, infections and congenital anomalies), two crucial aspects of perinatal mortality (unknown causes of death and termination of pregnancy), a clear distinction of conditions relevant only to the neonatal period and the remaining conditions are arranged in the four anatomical compartments (fetal, cord, placental and maternal). For more detail there are 94 subcategories, further specified in 577 categories in the full version. Codac is designed to accommodate both the main cause of death as well as two associated conditions. We suggest reporting not only the main cause of death, but also the associated relevant conditions so that scenarios of combined conditions and events are captured. The appropriately applied Codac system promises to better manage information on causes of perinatal deaths, the conditions associated with them, and the

Stakeholders' Attitude to Genetically Modified Foods and Medicine

PubMed Central

Md Jahi, Jamaluddin; Md Nor, Abd Rahim

2013-01-01

Public acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods has to be adequately addressed in order for their potential economic and social benefits to be realized. The objective of this paper is to assess the attitude of the Malaysian public toward GM foods (GM soybean and GM palm oil) and GM medicine (GM insulin). A survey was carried out using self-constructed multidimensional instrument measuring attitudes towards GM products. The respondents (n = 1017) were stratified according to stakeholders' groups in the Klang Valley region. Results of the survey show that the overall attitude of the Malaysian stakeholders towards GM products was cautious. Although they acknowledged the presence of moderate perceived benefits associated with GM products surveyed and were moderately encouraging of them, they were also moderately concerned about the risks and moral aspects of the three GM products as well as moderately accepting the risks. Attitudes towards GM products among the stakeholders were found to vary not according to the type of all GM applications but rather depend on the intricate relationships between the attitudinal factors and the type of gene transfers involved. Analyses of variance showed significant differences in the six dimensions of attitude towards GM products across stakeholders' groups. PMID:24381520

BID links ferroptosis to mitochondrial cell death pathways.

PubMed

Neitemeier, Sandra; Jelinek, Anja; Laino, Vincenzo; Hoffmann, Lena; Eisenbach, Ina; Eying, Roman; Ganjam, Goutham K; Dolga, Amalia M; Oppermann, Sina; Culmsee, Carsten

2017-08-01

Ferroptosis has been defined as an oxidative and iron-dependent pathway of regulated cell death that is distinct from caspase-dependent apoptosis and established pathways of death receptor-mediated regulated necrosis. While emerging evidence linked features of ferroptosis induced e.g. by erastin-mediated inhibition of the X c - system or inhibition of glutathione peroxidase 4 (Gpx4) to an increasing number of oxidative cell death paradigms in cancer cells, neurons or kidney cells, the biochemical pathways of oxidative cell death remained largely unclear. In particular, the role of mitochondrial damage in paradigms of ferroptosis needs further investigation. In the present study, we find that erastin-induced ferroptosis in neuronal cells was accompanied by BID transactivation to mitochondria, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, enhanced mitochondrial fragmentation and reduced ATP levels. These hallmarks of mitochondrial demise are also established features of oxytosis, a paradigm of cell death induced by X c - inhibition by millimolar concentrations of glutamate. Bid knockout using CRISPR/Cas9 approaches preserved mitochondrial integrity and function, and mediated neuroprotective effects against both, ferroptosis and oxytosis. Furthermore, the BID-inhibitor BI-6c9 inhibited erastin-induced ferroptosis, and, in turn, the ferroptosis inhibitors ferrostatin-1 and liproxstatin-1 prevented mitochondrial dysfunction and cell death in the paradigm of oxytosis. These findings show that mitochondrial transactivation of BID links ferroptosis to mitochondrial damage as the final execution step in this paradigm of oxidative cell death. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using response-time latencies to measure athletes' doping attitudes: the brief implicit attitude test identifies substance abuse in bodybuilders.

PubMed

Brand, Ralf; Wolff, Wanja; Thieme, Detlef

2014-09-10

Knowing and, if necessary, altering competitive athletes' real attitudes towards the use of banned performance-enhancing substances is an important goal of worldwide doping prevention efforts. However athletes will not always be willing to reporting their real opinions. Reaction time-based attitude tests help conceal the ultimate goal of measurement from the participant and impede strategic answering. This study investigated how well a reaction time-based attitude test discriminated between athletes who were doping and those who were not. We investigated whether athletes whose urine samples were positive for at least one banned substance (dopers) evaluated doping more favorably than clean athletes (non-dopers). We approached a group of 61 male competitive bodybuilders and collected urine samples for biochemical testing. The pictorial doping Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT) was used for attitude measurement. This test quantifies the difference in response latencies (in milliseconds) to stimuli representing related concepts (i.e. doping-dislike/like-[health food]). Prohibited substances were found in 43% of all tested urine samples. Dopers had more lenient attitudes to doping than non-dopers (Hedges's g = -0.76). D-scores greater than -0.57 (CI95 = -0.72 to -0.46) might be indicative of a rather lenient attitude to doping. In urine samples evidence of administration of combinations of substances, complementary administration of substances to treat side effects and use of stimulants to promote loss of body fat was common. This study demonstrates that athletes' attitudes to doping can be assessed indirectly with a reaction time-based test, and that their attitudes are related to their behavior. Although bodybuilders may be more willing to reveal their attitude to doping than other athletes, these results still provide evidence that the pictorial doping BIAT may be useful in athletes from other sports, perhaps as a complementary measure in evaluations of

The death spiral: predicting death in Drosophila cohorts.

PubMed

Mueller, Laurence D; Shahrestani, Parvin; Rauser, Casandra L; Rose, Michael R

2016-11-01

Drosophila research has identified a new feature of aging that has been called the death spiral. The death spiral is a period prior to death during which there is a decline in life-history characters, such as fecundity, as well as physiological characters. First, we review the data from the Drosophila and medfly literature that suggest the existence of death spirals. Second, we re-analyze five cases with such data from four laboratories using a generalized statistical framework, a re-analysis that strengthens the case for the salience of the death spiral phenomenon. Third, we raise the issue whether death spirals need to be taken into account in the analysis of functional characters over age, in aging research with model species as well as human data.

Undergraduate nursing students' knowledge and attitudes towards organ donation in Korea: Implications for education.

PubMed

Kim, Jung-Ran Theresa; Fisher, Murray J; Elliott, Doug

2006-08-01

Organ donation from brain dead patients is a contentious issue in Korea within the cultural context of Confucian beliefs. Each year thousands of patients wait for organ donation note poor donation rates and importance of nurses in identifying potential donors. It is therefore important to identify knowledge levels and attitudes towards organ donation from brain dead patients of nursing students as future health workers. Using a 38-item instrument previously developed by the researchers, 292 undergraduate students in a Korean nursing college were surveyed in 2003 in Korea (response rate 92%). Validity and reliability of the instrument was demonstrated using a multiple analytical approach. A lack of knowledge regarding diagnostic tests and co-morbid factors of brain death were noted among students. Their attitudes toward organ donation were somewhat mixed and ambiguous, but overall they were positive and willing to be a potential donor in the future. While this study identified that an effective educational program is necessary for nursing students in Korea to improve their knowledge of brain death and organ donation, further research is also required to verify these single-site findings and improve the generalisability of results.

On the generalization of attitude accessibility after repeated attitude expression

PubMed Central

Spruyt, Adriaan; Fazio, Russell H.; Hermans, Dirk

2016-01-01

Abstract The more accessible an attitude is, the stronger is its influence on information processing and behavior. Accessibility can be increased through attitude rehearsal, but it remains unknown whether attitude rehearsal also affects the accessibility of related attitudes. To investigate this hypothesis, participants in an experimental condition repeatedly expressed their attitudes towards exemplars of several semantic categories during an evaluative categorization task. Participants in a control condition performed a non‐evaluative task with the same exemplars and evaluated unrelated attitude objects. After a 30‐minute interval, participants in the experimental condition were faster than controls to evaluate not only the original exemplars but also novel exemplars of the same categories. This finding suggests that the effect of attitude rehearsal on accessibility generalizes to attitudes towards untrained but semantically related attitude objects. © 2016 The Authors. European Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID:28701803

[Maternal deaths related to social vulnerabilities. Results from the French confidential enquiry into maternal deaths, 2010-2012].

PubMed

Tessier, V; Leroux, S; Guseva-Canu, I

2017-12-01

The theme of deprivation is new for the ENCMM. In view of the perceived increase in the number of maternal deaths that may be related to a deprivation situation, we sought to understand the main dimensions that could contribute to maternal death in this context, in order to propose a definition. The selection of cases made a posteriori is mainly based on a qualitative judgment. Between 2010 and 2012, among the deaths evaluated by the CNEMM, one or more elements related to social vulnerability were identified in 8.6% of the cases (18 deaths). The direct criteria used were the concepts of "deprivation" or "social difficulties", difficulties of housing, language barriers and isolation. The absence of prenatal care was retained as an indirect marker. We excluded cases where psychiatric pathology and/or addiction were predominant. Of the 18 cases identified with deprivation factors, death was considered "unavoidable" in 2 cases (11%), "certainly avoidable" or "possibly avoidable" in 13 cases (72%). In 3 cases (17%), avoidability could not be determined. Avoidability was related to the content and adequacy of care in 11 cases out of 13 (85%) and the patient's interaction with the health care system in 10 of 18 cases (56%). The analysis of maternal deaths among women in precarious situations points out that the link between socio-economic deprivation and poor maternal health outcomes potentially includes a specific risk of maternal death. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

From attitude to action: What shapes attitude toward walking to/from school and how does it influence actual behaviors?

PubMed

Yu, Chia-Yuan; Zhu, Xuemei

2016-09-01

Walking to/from school could promote children's physical activity and help combat childhood obesity. Parental attitudes have been identified as one of the important predictors. But it is unclear what factors shape parental attitudes, and how those in turn influence children's school travel. This study addresses this gap of knowledge by examining the mediating effect of parental attitudes for the relationships between personal, social, and built environmental factors and children's walking-to/from-school behaviors. Survey data (N=2597) were collected from 20 public elementary schools in Austin, Texas, measuring students' typical school travel mode; personal, social, and built environmental factors related to walking-to/from-school; and relevant parental attitudes. The analysis was conducted in M-plus 6.11 to test the proposed conceptual framework using a structural equation model (SEM). Parental attitudes showed significant mediating effects on walking-to/from-school behaviors. Older child, positive peer influence, walkable home-to-school distance, and favorable walking environments were associated with more enjoyment and lower attitudinal barriers, and in turn increased likelihood of walking to/from school. Being Hispanic, increased car ownership, and stronger traffic safety concerns reduced enjoyment and increased attitudinal barriers, and thus decreased likelihood of walking to/from school. This study highlighted the importance of using multilevel interventions to reduce attitudinal barriers and increase enjoyment of walking to/from school. Collaborations among different stakeholders are needed to address environmental issues (e.g., safety concerns) and social factors (e.g., peer influence), while being sensitive to personal factors (e.g., age, ethnicity, and car ownership). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ageist attitudes block young adults' ability for compassion toward incapacitated older adults.

PubMed

Bergman, Yoav S; Bodner, Ehud

2015-09-01

Upon encountering older adults, individuals display varying degrees of prosocial attitudes and behaviors. While some display compassion and empathy, others draw away and wish to maintain their distance from them. The current study examined if and how ageist attitudes influence the association between the sight of physical incapacity in older age and compassionate reactions toward them. We predicted that ageist attitudes would interfere with the ability to respond to them with compassion. Young adults (N = 149, ages 19-29) were randomly distributed into two experimental conditions, each viewing a short video portraying different aspects of older adult physicality; one group viewed older adults displaying incapacitated behavior, and the other viewed fit behavior. Participants subsequently filled out scales assessing aging anxieties, and ageist and compassionate attitudes. Ageism was associated with reduced compassion toward the figures. Moreover, viewing incapacitated older adults led to increased concern toward them and perceived efficacy in helping them. However, significant interactions proved that higher scores of ageism in response to the videos led to increased need for distance and reduced efficacy toward incapacitated adults, an effect not observed among subjects with lower ageism scores. Ageism seems to be a factor which disengages individuals from older adults displaying fragility, leading them to disregard social norms which dictate compassion. The results are discussed from the framework of terror management theory, as increased mortality salience and death-related thoughts could have led to the activation of negative attitudes which, in turn, reduce compassion.

Childhood death rates declined in Sweden from 2000 to 2014 but deaths from external causes were not always investigated.

PubMed

Otterman, Gabriel; Lahne, Klara; Arkema, Elizabeth V; Lucas, Steven; Janson, Staffan; Hellström-Westas, Lena

2018-03-08

Countries that conduct systematic child death reviews report a high proportion of modifiable characteristics among deaths from external causes, and this study examined the trends in Sweden. We analysed individual-level data on external, ill-defined and unknown causes from the Swedish cause of death register from 2000 to 2014, and mortality rates were estimated for children under the age of one and for those aged 1-14 and 15-17 years. Child deaths from all causes were 7914, and 2006 (25%) were from external, ill-defined and unknown causes: 610 (30%) were infants, 692 (34%) were 1-14 and 704 (35%) were 15-17. The annual average was 134 cases (range 99-156) during the study period. Mortality rates from external, ill-defined and unknown causes in children under 18 fell 19%, from 7.4 to 6.0 per 100 000 population. A sizeable number of infant deaths (8.0%) were registered without a death certificate during the study period, but these counts were lower in children aged 1-14 (1.3%) and 15-17 (0.9%). Childhood deaths showed a sustained decline from 2000 to 2014 in Sweden and a quarter were from external, ill-defined or unknown causes. Systematic, interagency death reviews could yield information that could prevent future deaths. ©2018 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Connection to Nature: Children's Affective Attitude toward Nature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Judith Chen-Hsuan; Monroe, Martha C.

2012-01-01

A connection to nature index was developed and tested to measure children's affective attitude toward the natural environment. The index was employed through a survey that investigates students' attitude toward Lagoon Quest, a mandatory environmental education program for all fourth-grade, public school students in Brevard County, Florida. Factor…

Knowledge, competencies and attitudes regarding external post-mortem physical examination: A survey among German post-graduate trainees in general practice.

PubMed

Valentini, Jan; Goetz, Katja; Yen, Kathrin; Szecsenyi, Joachim; Dettling, Andrea; Joos, Stefanie; Steinhaeuser, Jost; Flum, Elisabeth

2018-12-01

The external post-mortem examination (EPME) is an important medical, legal and socio-economic task with far-reaching relevance; however, due to discrepancies between findings from EPMEs and actual cause of death, improvements in accuracy and quality are needed. To investigate knowledge, competencies and attitudes regarding EPME in general practitioner (GP) post-graduate trainees. Before four post-graduate training courses on the EPME for general practitioner trainees, organized in 2014 in the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, a questionnaire on the EPME was distributed by the lecturer, completed by the GP post-graduate trainees and returned to the lecturer. The questionnaire consisted of 19 items related to three main categories: knowledge, competencies and attitudes. Out of 380 GP post-graduate trainees, 128 completed and returned the questionnaire (response rate 33.7%). Less than 18% felt adequately confident in identifying a natural cause of death and less than 5% felt adequately confident in identifying an unnatural cause of death. Only 33% consistently fully uncover the corpse for the EPME. We found an important uncertainty in GP post-graduate trainees regarding their EPME knowledge and competencies.

Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Organ Donation in Health Care Undergraduate Students in Italy.

PubMed

Fontana, F; Massari, M; Giovannini, L; Alfano, G; Cappelli, G

2017-11-01

The number of organ donors in Italy is increasing, but with still disappointing living donation activity and relatively frequent objection by potential deceased donors' relatives to organ recovery. Few studies have assessed health care students' knowledge and attitude on donation. We administered a questionnaire to medical (MS) and nursing students (NS) at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, and 749 students (406 MS and 343 NS) completed the questionnaire. Although 95% of students were in favor of donation, only 21.9% of NS and 24.9% of MS were registered as donors. One quarter of students reported family disagreement. MS appeared more confident with personnel involved in donation. Overall, 60% of students knew the term donation after brain death but only 40% were aware of the criteria used to define it. Barely 27.1% of NS and 15.3% of MS believed they had received sufficient information in lessons. Backward logistic regression demonstrated that students whose families agree with them and who knew the definition of donation after brain death were more likely to express the disposition of registering, and those who showed distrust in the declaration of brain death were half as likely to register as donors. Students expressed a lack of knowledge, controversial attitudes on donation, and strong need for education; increased awareness may help increase donation rates. The majority of educational institutions in Italy do not directly address training on organ donation and transplantation for health care students; an integrated curriculum favoring interpersonal discussion including practical aspects is urgently required. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Public Attitudes to Technological Progress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Eliot

1979-01-01

Discusses the probable changes in public attitudes toward science and technology as a result of the engineering accidents of 1979. Results of national polls conducted to identify public confidence in technological progress are included. (HM)

Community attitudes towards individuals living with HIV in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

PubMed

Ndinda, C; Chimbwete, C; McGrath, N; Pool, R; Mdp Group

2007-01-01

Antenatal sero-prevalence rates of 30% and more have been reported in KwaZulu-Natal since 1998 and over 50% of all adult deaths in 2000 were due to AIDS. Understanding the changing social and cultural attitudes to AIDS is important in providing contextual information to aid the design of interventions. This paper examines community attitudes towards individuals living with HIV. Eleven focus groups were conducted with men and women. Participants were asked to discuss how people living with HIV were treated within the family and community. The discussions were recorded and transcribed in isiZulu and then translated into English. These were coded using Nud*ist 6 software to identify key themes and sub-themes using content analysis. Gender and area differences were investigated. Generally participants expressed positive attitudes to the treatment of AIDS patients and felt that people living with HIV were being cared for within families. However, they reported more negative attitudes to those living with HIV by the general community and suggested these attitudes and acts of discrimination influenced disclosure. Discrimination included physical isolation and symbolism such as referring to them using a 'three finger' gesture. Participants also reported mixed responses to known HIV-positive individuals, ranging from sympathy to a lack of care, on the grounds that the person is certain to die. There are gender differences in terms of the attitudes towards people living with HIV. Compassion and hopelessness seem to be more common among women than men.

Influence of physicians' life stances on attitudes to end-of-life decisions and actual end-of-life decision-making in six countries.

PubMed

Cohen, J; van Delden, J; Mortier, F; Löfmark, R; Norup, M; Cartwright, C; Faisst, K; Canova, C; Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B; Bilsen, J

2008-04-01

To examine how physicians' life stances affect their attitudes to end-of-life decisions and their actual end-of-life decision-making. Practising physicians from various specialties involved in the care of dying patients in Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia received structured questionnaires on end-of-life care, which included questions about their life stance. Response rates ranged from 53% in Australia to 68% in Denmark. General attitudes, intended behaviour with respect to two hypothetical patients, and actual behaviour were compared between all large life-stance groups in each country. Only small differences in life stance were found in all countries in general attitudes and intended and actual behaviour with regard to various end-of-life decisions. However, with regard to the administration of drugs explicitly intended to hasten the patient's death (PAD), physicians with specific religious affiliations had significantly less accepting attitudes, and less willingness to perform it, than non-religious physicians. They had also actually performed PAD less often. However, in most countries, both Catholics (up to 15.7% in The Netherlands) and Protestants (up to 20.4% in The Netherlands) reported ever having made such a decision. The results suggest that religious teachings influence to some extent end-of-life decision-making, but are certainly not blankly accepted by physicians, especially when dealing with real patients and circumstances. Physicians seem to embrace religious belief in a non-imperative way, allowing adaptation to particular situations.

Deaths related to Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Louisiana, 1992.

PubMed

Combs, D L; Parrish, R G; McNabb, S J; Davis, J H

1996-06-01

Information about circumstances leading to disaster-related deaths helps emergency response coordinators and other public health officials respond to the needs of disaster victims and develop policies for reducing the mortality and morbidity of future disasters. In this paper, we describe the decedent population, circumstances of death, and population-based mortality rates related to Hurricane Andrew, and propose recommendations for evaluating and reducing the public health impact of natural disasters. To ascertain the number and circumstances of deaths attributed to Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Louisiana, we contacted medical examiners in 11 Florida counties and coroners in 36 Louisiana parishes. In Florida medical examiners attributed 44 deaths to the hurricane. The mortality rate for directly-related deaths was 4.4 per 1 000 000 population and that for indirectly-related deaths was 8.5 per 1 000 000 population. In Louisiana, coroners attributed 11 resident deaths to the hurricane. Mortality rates were 0.6 per 1000 000 population for deaths directly related to the storm and 2.8 for deaths indirectly related to the storm. Six additional deaths occurred among non-residents who drowned in international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. In both Florida and Louisiana, mortality rates generally increased with age and were higher among whites and males. In addition to encouraging people to follow existing recommendations, we recommend emphasizing safe driving practices during evacuation and clean-up, equipping shelters with basic medical needs for the population served, and modifying zoning and housing legislation. We also recommend developing and using a standard definition for disaster-related deaths, and using population-based statistics to describe the public health effectiveness of policies intended to reduce disaster-related mortality.

Psychometric Characteristics of the Attitude Questionnaire Toward the Donation of Organs for Transplant (PCID-DTO-RIOS).

PubMed

Ríos, A; López-Navas, A I; De-Francisco, C; Sánchez, Á; Hernández, A M; Ramírez, P; Parrilla, P

2018-03-01

Most psychosocial attitude studies for donors are not evaluated and are not valid. Validated questionnaires are necessary to compare results and guarantee that they measure what they are intended to measure. To analyze the psychometric characteristics of the attitude questionnaire toward the donation of one's own organs after death. We evaluated PCID-DTO RIOS (Questionnaire of "Proyecto Colaborativo Internacional Donante" about organ donation and transplant; donación y trasplante de órganos in Spanish), developed by Dr Ríos, for its validation in a Spanish-speaking population. A sample of 600 Spaniards over 18 stratified by age and gender according to the center were included. The PCID-DTO-RIOS was used, which allows determination of the factors that condition that attitude. Structured analysis was used in several stages, with an initial description of the data, exploratory factorial analysis, item analysis, and internal factor consistency. The 20 items of the questionnaire are grouped into 4 factors, which explain 63.203% of the total variance. By factors, this is distributed as follows: factor 1 (6 items) 26.287%; factor 2 (7 items) 24.972%; factor 3 (4 items) 6.834%; and factor 4 (3 items) 5.110%. The analysis of the items and the internal consistency measured through Cronbach α (α1 = .95, α2 = .80, α3 = .74, and α4 = .64) support the four-factor composition, with α = 0.834. The questionnaire PCID-DTO-RIOS is composed of 4 factors that explain a high percentage of the attitude toward the donation of one's own organs after death. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attitudes toward and approaches to learning first-year university mathematics.

PubMed

Alkhateeb, Haitham M; Hammoudi, Lakhdar

2006-08-01

This study examined the relationship for 180 undergraduate students enrolled in a first-year university calculus course between attitudes toward mathematics and approaches to learning mathematics using the Mathematics Attitude Scale and the Approaches to Learning Mathematics Questionnaire, respectively. Regression analyses indicated that scores for the Mathematics Attitude Scale were negatively related to scores for the Surface Approach and accounted for 10.4% of the variance and scores for the Mathematics Attitude Scale were positively related to scores for the Deep Approach to learning mathematics and accounted for 31.7% of the variance.