Palliative care and psychology education needs in nursing courses: A focus group study among Italian undergraduates

Testoni, Ines; Bottacin, Marina; Fortuna, Belinda Claudia; Zamperini, Adriano; Marinoni, Gaia Luisa; Biasco, Guido

doi:10.3280/pds2019-002004

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…In general, all participants recognized the need for adequate preparation regarding the topics covered by the course, not only to live better and deal with these issues more serenely, but also for their future as health professionals. All participants therefore expressed only positive psychological and educational effects, valuing how much the course had allowed them to better manage the social trauma caused by COVID-19, and this appears to be in line with other literature, and especially studies involving also other healthcare students as well, which have confirmed how important it is to implement death education pathways for University students, especially for those studying to become health professionals (43,44), as the present results highlighted as well.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Testoni

Iacona

Corso

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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The systematic removal of death from social life in the West has exposed people living in areas affected by COVID-19 to the risk of being unable to adequately manage the anxiety caused by mortality salience. Death education is a type of intervention that helps people manage their fear of death by offering them effective strategies to deal with loss and anxiety. To that end, a path of death education has been carried out with University students of psychology. The main purpose of the research is to understand how students who participated in the death education course perceive the lockdown experience in light of course teachings. The research was carried out at a University in northern Italy in an area severely affected by COVID-19, during the first year of the pandemic. The group of participants included 38 students, 30 women and 8 men, with an average age of 25.45 years (SD = 7). At the end of the course, the students could respond on an optional basis to the request to comment on the training experience according to what they experienced during the pandemic. A thematic analysis was subsequently carried out on the texts, which made it possible to identify the most relevant thematic areas for the students. The qualitative analyses permitted recognition of three main forms of discovery: the removal of death in contemporary culture; the importance of community, ritual and funeral, and spirituality; and the significance of death education for future health professionals. The texts have highlighted how the removal of these issues exposes people to the risk of being unable to handle extremely painful events such as those related to dying. The results show the positivity of death education pathways conducted at the University level to help students reflect on these issues and manage the related anguish.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Testoni

Iacona

Corso

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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“…However, a recent study on a group of non-healthcare personnel showed that such defences do not reduce burnout levels (Testoni et al, 2020a ). This demonstrated the need to find better strategies (Testoni et al, 2019a ) [e.g., by enhancing the spiritual dimension (Testoni et al, 2016 ; Castro et al, 2019 )]. This could be particularly helpful given the growing impact of new medical technologies on the healthcare provider-patient relationship, as such technologies often increase the distance between these parties (Pirone, 2018 ; Eyal et al, 2019 ; Dalton-Brown, 2020 ; Matthews, 2020 ; Sakka and Qarashay, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facing COVID-19 Between Sensory and Psychoemotional Stress, and Instrumental Deprivation: A Qualitative Study of Unmanageable Critical Incidents With Doctors and Nurses in Two Hospitals in Northern Italy

et al. 2021

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic severely strained the already unprepared Italian healthcare system. This had repercussions on healthcare workers, stemming, in particular, from a lack of clear guidelines, adequate protective equipment, and professional preparedness. Such conditions were especially prevalent in Northern Italy.Objectives: This study aimed to examine COVID-19-related professional and psychoemotional stress among nurses and doctors in two hospitals in Northern Italy, along with the worst critical incidents affecting healthcare personnel. A parallel objective was to elicit healthcare professionals' opinions about what changes are needed in the healthcare system's operations, as well as about the relational/emotional skills that are needed to better manage relationships with patients in emergency situations.Participants: Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants and yielded 17 hospital professionals: six nurses (five female and one male) and 11 doctors (seven male and four female). Three of these professionals worked in intensive care and the others in different wards. All had close contact with COVID-19 patients.Methods: The study employed a qualitative research design, using in-depth interviews of ~60 min each that were conducted via Skype video calls. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, then analysed. The qualitative analysis employed mixed methods to identify the most relevant and recursive themes from the interviews.Results: Four fundamental themes emerged from our analysis of the interview texts: (1) disorganisation and psychoemotional stress; (2) urgency and critical incidents; (3) everything surreal; and (4) disruptions in empathetic relationships with patients.Conclusions: Through our analysis of the interview narratives, we found that systematic and in-depth psychological training is needed to prepare professionals for (1) altered relationships with patients in emergencies; (2) use of exceptional medical equipment; (3) elaboration of new bioethical models suitable for disasters and pandemics; and (4) engagement with the themes of death and dying.

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“…Indeed, nowadays, social law is at risk of being insufficiently respected, since the possibility of adequately applying AHDs also requires a certain amount of psychological preparation for both common people and healthcare professionals [ 10 ]. Among the factors that may reduce the complete application of this right are the cultural removal of dying processes due to the fear of death [ 11 , 12 ], as the Terror Management Theory widely explains [ 13 ], the following lack of competence that creates difficulties in EOL decision-making processes [ 14 ], and ideological concerns, such as the presence of rigid religious positions [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Both of these factors are related to the widespread Western tendency to remove any discourse on human mortality [ 18 ], as the literature has widely highlighted [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Challenge for Palliative Psychology: Freedom of Choice at the End of Life among the Attitudes of Physicians and Nurses

Testoni

Bortolotti

Pompele

et al. 2020

Behavioral Sciences

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This article considers a particular aspect of palliative psychology that is inherent to the needs in the area of attitudes concerning Advance Healthcare Directives (AHDs) among Italian physicians and nurses after the promulgation of Law No. 219/2017 on AHDs and informed consent in 2018. The study utilized a mixed-method approach. The group of participants was composed of 102 healthcare professionals (63 females and 39 males). The quantitative part utilized the following scales: Attitudes toward Euthanasia, the Religious Orientation Scale, the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, and the Testoni Death Representation Scale. The results were mostly in line with the current literature, especially concerning a positive correlation between religiosity and the participants’ rejection of the idea of euthanasia. However, the qualitative results showed both positive and negative attitudes towards AHDs, with four main thematic areas: “Positive aspects of the new law and of AHDs”, “Negative aspects of the new law and of AHDs”, “Changes that occurred in the professional context and critical incidents”, and “Attitudes towards euthanasia requests.” It emerged that there is not any polarization between Catholics or religious people and secularists: Their positions are substantially similar with respect to all aspects, including with regard to euthanasia. The general result is that the law is not sufficiently understood, and so a quarter of the participants associate AHDs with euthanasia. Discussions on the opportunity for palliative psychologists to help health professionals to better manage these issues through death education courses are presented.

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Palliative care and psychology education needs in nursing courses: A focus group study among Italian undergraduates

Cited by 12 publications

References 45 publications

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Psychology Students' Perceptions of COVID-19 in a Death Education Course

Facing COVID-19 Between Sensory and Psychoemotional Stress, and Instrumental Deprivation: A Qualitative Study of Unmanageable Critical Incidents With Doctors and Nurses in Two Hospitals in Northern Italy

A Challenge for Palliative Psychology: Freedom of Choice at the End of Life among the Attitudes of Physicians and Nurses

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