Objectives: To describe the levels of anxiety in the face of death in professionals from hospital emergency services in Aragon. To analyse its association with sociodemographic, perception and work-related variables.
Methodology: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study. The population and context of the study were health professionals in the hospital emergency services of Aragon. A non-probabilistic sampling selection was applied (n = 230 participants). The "Collet-Lester-Fear-of-Death-Scale" instrument was introduced to measure anxiety about death. The data was collected with a self-applied telematic questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed to analyse the association between the study variables.
Results: Mean values obtained for anxiety in the face of death were 94.58 ± 21.66 with a CI of 95%: (91.76-97.39) (range of scale: 28-140 points). A significant association was identified with the professional category variables (physicians, medical residents, nurses, and auxiliary nurses) (p: 0,006), gender (p: 0.001), level of training in emotional self-management (p: 0.03), self-perceived level of mental health (p: 0.07) and perception of lack of support from palliative care/mental health professionals (p: 0.006). This association was not obtained with the variables age (Sig: 0.558), total professional experience (p: 0.762) and in emergencies (p: 0.191).
Conclusion: The levels of anxiety in the face of death in the emergency hospital services are lower than those presented in other hospital units. Variables such as professional category, degree of training in emotional self-management and self-perceived level of mental health are related to levels of anxiety in the face of death and their study requires further work.
Keywords: Actitud frente a la muerte; Attitude to death; Death; Emergencias; Emergencies; End of life; Fear; Final de vida; Miedo; Muerte; Tanatología; Thanatology.
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.