Association between attitude towards death and spiritual care competence of Chinese oncology nurses: a cross-sectional study

Backgrounds An understanding of the oncology nurse spiritual care competence would help nurse managers recognize weakness in spiritual practice and improve the quality of spiritual care. But the relationship between attitude towards death and spiritual care competence is unknown. Methods We recruited 326 nurses from hospitals in Guangzhou, China. The nurses completed the Chinese Spiritual Care Competence Scale and the Chinese Death Attitude Profile-Revised questionnaires. Results The total score of spiritual care competence was 61.62 ± 16.10. And the lowest score of attitude towards death was for escape acceptance, 2.64 ± 0.82. Factors associated with nurse spiritual care competence were work department, whether trained in spiritual care, approaching acceptance, and escaping acceptance of attitude towards death. Conclusion Nurses need to perfect their spiritual care competence and establish positive attitudes towards death.

Longitudinal Follow-Up of Death Anxiety and Psychophysical-Symptom Experience of Participants in the Silent Mentor Program

This study assessed death anxiety (Death Anxiety Questionnaire, DAQ) and psychophysical- (psychological and physical) symptom experience following cadaveric dissection among the Silent Mentor Program (SMP) participants before thawing (T1), after the suturing, dressing and coffining session (T2), and one month post-program (T3). There was a significant decline in the total DAQ score comparing T1 and T2 ( t = 7.69, p < 0.001) and T2 and T3 ( t = 5.00, p < 0.001) and T1 and T3 (t = 10.80, p < 0.001). There was a significant reduction in total psychological-symptom score comparing T1 and T2 ( t = 4.92, p < 0.001) and between T1 and T3 ( t = 4.85, p < 0.001). However, for the physical-symptom experience, a significant increase in the physical-symptom score between T1 and T2 ( t = –3.25, p = 0.001) was reported but the scores reduced significantly one month after the program (T2–T3; t = 4.12, p < 0.001). The mentoring concept of the SMP program has beneficial effects on improving attitude towards death and psychophysical-symptom experience associated with cadaver dissection.

Death Anxiety and Attitudes towards Death in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: An Exploratory Study

Background: Death and the anxiety of it becomes more apparent when confronted with a chronic disease. Even though multiple sclerosis (MS) is a treatable condition today, it is still accompanied by a multitude of impairments, which in turn may intensify of death anxiety. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between depression, anxiety and death anxiety in individuals with MS. Methods: Fifty-six MS patients were recruited at the Department of Neurology of the University Clinic in Basel. Death anxiety was assessed using the Bochumer Questionnaire on attitude to death and death anxiety 2.0 (BOFRETTA 2.0). Results: Scores of death anxiety towards it in MS patients were low. Only disability (EDSS) was moderately correlated with death anxiety. Depression in MS was significantly correlated with fatigue and disability, but not with the BOFRETTA 2.0. Conclusion: Scores of death anxiety and the attitude towards death are low in this MS cohort. It was shown that both psychopathological and neurological deficits impact the subject of death with respect to multiple sclerosis.

The Relationship between believing in resurrection and attitudes toward death among elderly people

Background: Since believing in resurrection and life after death exists in all religions, strengthening this belief leads to positive emotional states, increases adaptation to adverse life events, reduces the fear of death and gives a meaning to life. This study was conducted in 2017 to investigate the relationship between believing in resurrection and attitude towards death among the elderly population of Golestan province. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 230 elderly people over 60 years old in Golestan province, Iran. The data collection tool was the standard questionnaire of resurrection belief and attitude towards death. Data were collected by self-reporting method, and then were analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Spearman and Kruskal-Wallis correlation coefficient). Results: The score of believing in resurrection was 70.62 + 8.41 and the score of attitude towards death was 128.08 + 16.58 among the samples. Pearson correlation test did not show a significant relationship between believing in resurrection and attitude towards death (r = 0.01, p = 0.9). Conclusion: The results of this study showed no significant relationship between believing in resurrection and attitude towards death among the elderly people. However, since almost everyone believes in resurrection and afterlife, spiritual tendencies become more pronounced in old age. By understanding and strengthening the spiritual needs of elderlies, health care providers can promote mental health, gives a meaning to life and reduce the fear of death in the elderly population. Key words: Believing in resurrection, Attitude towards death, Elderly

Trust as a leading socio-psychological relationship in the experience of existential given

The understanding of the value of human life and responsibility for everything that happens or can happen to a person is analysed in the article; ways of overcoming alienation and loneliness and building trust in oneself, in the world and in others are identified. A theoretical overview, where the connectivity of existential givens is traced, is presented; in works of psychology, we however do not find scientific-psychological and statistical substantiation of these connections, which were outlined as long ago as at the time of existentialist philosophers. The results of empirical research are obtained by using the following methods – the study of personal trust or distrust in the world, in other people, in oneself by Alla Kupreychenko; Milton Rokeach Value Survey; Multidimensional diagnostic of "responsibility" RESPONSIBILITY-70; Dmitriy Leont'yev’s Meaningful Orientations Test; "Death Attitude" questionnaire by Paul T. P. Wong; Kseniya Chistopol'skaya’s adaptation of the "Fear of Personal Death" questionnaire, Yevgeniy Osin & Dmitriy Leont'yev’s differential questionnaire on the experience of loneliness. 80 people between the ages of 18 and 61 took part in the study. Of these, 54 % were females and 46 %, males. 51 % of the respondents have a family; 49 %, do not; 50 % of the respondents have a higher education. It is established that the level of understanding life, accepting responsibility, loneliness and its consequences are largely determined by the individual's trust in oneself, in others and in the world as a whole; the "optimal measure" of trust allows a person to accept existential given and cope with the feeling of meaninglessness of existence and the fear of death; what becomes the logical continuation of the search and finding meaning in life and the struggle with existential crisis is the attitude towards death, which includes analysis of the reasons for fear.

SFÂNTUL CIPRIAN AL CARTAGINEI, EPISTOLA: DE MORTALITATE - DESPRE CONDIȚIA MURITOARE A OMULUI- ATITUDINEA CREȘTINULUI ÎN TIMPUL PANDEMIEI ȘI PUTEREA CREDINȚEI. UN CUVÂNT ACTUAL PENTRU CONTEXTUL COVID-19 - TRADUCERE, INTRODUCERE ȘI NOTE

The epistle "On the Mortality" written in 252 AD, by St. Cyprian of Carthage is his most original moral writing. The Christians of the first centuries went through various plagues or epidemics, in which moments they proved the power of the faith by taking care of each other, without abandoning the sick. This prompted Saint Cyprian to write a work entitled De mortalitate. Plague reached a widespread, lasting from the year 251 until 254. The world was panicked. The epistle De mortalitate "On the Mortality" is addressed to Christians, through which he awakens in them the hope in future goodness and a dignified attitude towards death, which is a passage from exile to the heavenly homeland. In fact, the epistle „De mortalitate” contains an admirable doctrine of suffering and death, viewed from Christian viewpoint. This epistle is very actual for the contemporary time because we know the attitude of the Christians facing the epidemic and even more than the power of the faith assumed, all that is well affirmed for the current time, in the context marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Words describing feelings about death: A comparison of sentiment for self and others and changes over time

Understanding public attitudes towards death is needed to inform health policies to foster community death awareness and preparedness. Linguistic sentiment analysis of how people describe their feelings about death can add to knowledge gained from traditional self-reports. This study provided the first description of emotive attitudes expressed towards death utilising textual sentiment analysis for the dimensions of valence, arousal and dominance. A linguistic lexicon of sentiment norms was applied to activities conducted in an online course for the general-public designed to generate discussion about death. We analysed the sentiment of words people chose to describe feelings about death, for themselves, for perceptions of the feelings of ‘others’, and for longitudinal changes over the time-period of exposure to a course about death (n = 1491). The results demonstrated that sadness pervades affective responses to death, and that inevitability, peace, and fear were also frequent reactions. However, words chosen to represent perceptions of others’ feelings towards death suggested that participants perceived others as feeling more negative about death than they do themselves. Analysis of valence, arousal and dominance dimensions of sentiment pre-to-post course participation demonstrated that participants chose significantly happier (more positive) valence words, less arousing (calmer) words, and more dominant (in-control) words to express their feelings about death by the course end. This suggests that the course may have been helpful in participants becoming more emotionally accepting in their feelings and attitude towards death. Furthermore, the change over time appeared greater for younger participants, who showed more increase in the dominance (power/control) and pleasantness (valence) in words chosen at course completion. Sentiment analysis of words to describe death usefully extended our understanding of community death attitudes and emotions. Future application of sentiment analysis to other related areas of health policy interest such as attitudes towards Advance Care Planning and palliative care may prove fruitful.

REPRESENTATION OF DEATH EXPERIENCE IN THE S.SALGADO’S CREATIVE HERITAGE

В данной статье рассматриваются специфические особенности визуализации смерти в XX веке на примере фотографического наследия Себастьяно Сальгадо. Изучая смерть как один из ключевых элементов коллективного сознания, французский исследователь Филипп Арьес выделяет пять исторических этапов развития и изменения отношения человека к смерти. ХХ век, трагически прославившийся многочисленными войнами и драматическими событиями, повлекшими за собой массовые человеческие жертвы, согласно исследователю, становится временем «смерти перевернутой». Вытеснение смерти на периферию социальной и культурной жизни, которое заметил Ф. Арьес, отражает чувство страха перед смертью, ставшей табуированной и не заслуживающей внимания темой. Стремление к дистанцированию от смерти приводит к тому, что она становится доступной только при использовании различных опосредований, одним из которых является фотография, а медиатизация смерти позволяет создать ощущение подвластности данного феномена человеку, прирученности. В творчестве широко известного бразильского фотографа Себастьяно Сальгадо можно выявить ряд острых фотографических серий, посвященных визуализации мортальности различными способами. Фотографические образы смерти, созданные бразильским фотографом, становятся отражением опыта переживания и осмысления смерти. Обратив внимание на фотографические серии из Южной и Центральной Америки и Африки, можно увидеть, что образ смерти, став связующей нитью в творчестве Сальгадо, получает различные способы репрезентации. Основными способами отображения темы смерти становятся эстетизация и стремление к абстрактности контекста, за которые его работы подвергаются многочисленной критике. Фотографическое наследие Сальгадо становится важным звеном между документальной фотографией военных лет, вынужденно несущей в себе образы смерти, и виртуальными изображениями смерти в современных медиа. This article addresses the specific features of visualization of death in the 20th century on the example of the photographic heritage of Sebastião Salgado. Studying death as one of the key elements of collective consciousness French scholar Ph. Aries distinguishes five historical periods of development and modification of the attitude towards death. XX century is tragically known for its numerous wars and dramatic events resulting in massive loss of life and - following the scholar - became the time of “reversed death”. Displacement of death to the periphery of social and cultural life which was noted by Aries, shows the feeling of fear of death which became not worth mentioning taboo. The effort to distance ourselves from death leads to the fact that death becomes available only with help of various indirect methods such as photography. Mediatization of death allows to create a feeling of control over that phenomenon. In creative works of widely known Brazilian photographer S. Salgado one can identify a number of different series dedicated to visualization of mortality. Photo images of death created by the Brazilian photographer become a projection and conceptualization of death. Looking at photo series from South and Central Africa and America one can conclude that the image of death – the central theme of Salgado’s work – gets various ways of representation. The main ways of representation of death became aestheticization and the quest for abstract context for which his works are seriously criticized. The photographic heritage of Sebastião Salgado became an important link between documentary photography of wartime involuntarily filled with images of death and virtual images of death in modern media.

The Return of Death in Times of Uncertainty—A Sketchy Diagnosis of Death in the Contemporary ‘Corona Crisis’

For most parts of human history, death was an integral part of life, something that prehistoric and premodern man had no other option than to live with as best as possible. According to historians, death was familiar and tamed, it was at the center of social and cultural life. With the coming of modern secular society, death was increasingly sequestrated and tabooed, moved to the outskirts of society, made invisible and forbidden. Death became a stranger, and the prevalent attitude towards death was that of alienation. At the threshold of the 21st century, the topic of death again began to attract attention, becoming part of a revived death attitude described as ‘Spectacular Death’. In the article, the authors diagnose, analyze, and discuss the impact of the return of death during the current ‘Corona Crisis’, arguing that despite the fact that the concern with death is at the very core of the management of the crisis, death as such remains largely invisible. In order to provide such a diagnosis of the times, the authors initially revisit the prevailing death attitudes in the Western world from the Middle Ages to the present day.