Investigation on the Death View of Medical Students and Its Influencing Factors in China

Abstract

Background. Attitudes towards death are related to different social, cultural and religious backgrounds, including fear of death, anxiety and so on. Doctors are the people most likely to be exposed to death in their professional setting, and negative attitudes to death affect their level of care for dying patients. The COVID-19 pandemic is giving medical students a chance to think about death. The students of medical school are confronting death for the first time, but we know little about their attitudes toward death. Objective. To investigate the death view of medical students and its influencing factors and provide references for death education. Methods. An cross-sectional survey was conducted through a self-designed death attitude questionnaire among 1470 medical students in a medical university in Xinjiang, China. Pearson correlation and constituent ratio were used for statistical analysis. Results. 78.1% of medical students are full of fear of death; 77.0% of medical students could not talk about death openly and naturally in daily life. There were significant differences in the view of death among medical students of different gender (P = 0.002), nationality (P = 0.004), grade (P＜0.001) and family environment (P = 0.007). About death education, 82.6% of medical students are willing to accept it, and the most accepted way of death education is the elective course of death education in schools (76.0%). Conclusion. The majority of medical students’ view of death still needs to be improved in China. In the post-epidemic era, it may be the best way to help medical students to establish a positive view of death by carrying out elective courses of death education.