Avaliação Do Perfil De Atitudes Acerca Da Morte: Estudo Com Graduandos Da Área De Saúde

Abstract

Objective: to identify the profile of attitudes towards death in undergraduate students from in the health science area.Method: a cross-sectional study performed with undergraduates from six healthcare courses of a public university in the Federal District. The Death Attitude Profile Assessment Scale and a sociodemographic questionnaire were applied.Results: a total of 1,005 students participated in the study. The neutral acceptance attitude obtained higher average scores among the undergraduate students, higher averages in the fear of death dimension are presented in younger students and lower means of avoidance of death in older students, who attended the first semester of the undergraduate course. The acceptance and approach acceptance dimensions obtained higher averages in male undergraduate students. It was observed that 59.9% of the participants had no prior experience of loss and 75.4% reported not having participated in any discussions about death or dying.Conclusion: based on the results found in the research, the need for discussions on the subject of death and dying beginning in the first semesters in undergraduate courses is reinforced, this is in order to provide a positive attitude towards death and future health professionals exercise their care in a more qualified manner DESCRIPTORS: Attitude towards death. Death. Thanatology. Grief. Students of health sciences. Resultados: participaram da pesquisa 1.005 estudantes. A atitude de aceitação neutra obteve maiores médias dentre os graduandos da amostra, médias mais elevadas na dimensão medo da morte apresentam-se em graduandos mais jovens e médias mais baixas de evitamento da morte em graduandos com maior idade, que cursavam os primeiros semestres da graduação. As dimensões aceitação de escape e religiosa obtiveram médias mais elevadas nos graduandos do sexo masculino. Observou-se que 59,9% dos participantes não tiveram experiência prévia de perda e 75,4% referiram não ter participado de discussões acerca da morte e do morrer. AVALIAÇÃO DO PERFIL DE ATITUDESConclusão: com base nos resultados encontrados na pesquisa, reforça-se a necessidade de discussões sobre a temática da morte e do morrer desde os primeiros semestres na graduação, com a finalidade de oportunizar uma atitude positiva frente à morte e o exercício de um cuidado mais qualificado entre os futuros profissionais de saúde. Método: estudio transversal realizado con graduandos de seis cursos de salud de una universidad pública del Distrito Federal. Se aplicó la Escala de Evaluación del Perfil de Actitudes Acerca de la Muerte y un cuestionario sociodemográfico. DESCRITORES:Resultados: participaron de la investigación 1005 estudiantes. La actitud de aceptación neutra obtuvo mayores promedios entre los graduandos de la muestra, las medias más elevadas en la dimensión miedo a la muerte se presentan en graduandos más jóvenes y medias más bajas de evitación de la muerte en graduandos con mayor edad, que cursaban los primeros semestres de la graduación. Las dimensiones aceptadas de escape ...

Perceptions, Attitudes, and Teaching about Death and Dying in the Medical School of the Federal University of Acre, Brazil

“…In a similar study, health students also showed a prevalence of the same profile. However, it is necessary to question the true character of this "neutrality" towards death among the students and if it is actually assimilated naturally 8,13,14 .…”

Translation and Cultural Adaptation of Death Attitude Profile Revised (Dap-R) for Use in Brazil

“…10,18,23 Thus, the DAP-R stands out for analyzing the construct from the positive (acceptance) and negative (fear, anxiety and avoid thinking or talking about death) constructs, and is one of the most psychometrically sound measures for assessing attitudes to death in the world. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Thus, it is justified to perform the crosscultural adaptation of the scale in order to be able to conduct future studies that may allow comparisons between attitudes towards death in Brazil with other countries.…”

“…Authors point out that this attitude comprises an ego defense against suffering but, when it stands out, it can make it difficult to understand the present moment and the meaning of life. 9 Through using the DAP-R, several international studies have been developed with a focus on testing the differences that are made when students and health professionals undergo training processes on end-of-life care/thanatology and how this may influence the care provided. Individuals who have had death training have more positive attitudes compared to those who had not.…”

“…From an existentialist standpoint, positive attitudes are classified as accepting death, while negative attitudes denote fear and anxiety about death. 9 Attitude scales are built up on the assumption that we can measure attitudes through people's beliefs, opinions, and evaluations of a particular object. Most instruments used to measure attitudes toward death are one-dimensional and focus on negative attitudinal aspects.…”

“…10 One of the most widely used instruments in international research to successfully measure attitudes towards death is Death Attitude Profile Revised (DAP-R). 6,[8][9][10][11] This Canadian instrument is distinguished for being a multidimensional measure that evaluates a broad set of attitudes, based on Kubler-Ross's conceptual analysis for death acceptance as the last stage of the dying process. 12 This model has inspiration and an existentialist orientation and understands that both fear and death acceptance are inseparable and are related to the search for meaning in life.…”