Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Attitude toward death'

This thesis is a study of the relationship between selected socio-demographic variables and the attitudes of rural elderly toward impending death. Sex, age, and religious group affiliation are examined to determine the extent to which these factors help to explain variations in attitudes toward death. The sample was comprised of 65 respondents: 31 males and 34 females, including 20 Catholics and 45 Protestants. All respondents were between the ages of 60-92. The sample for this study is a subset of 234 Life History Interviews collected by Dr. Wilbur H. Watson (1978-80) in a larger study of older blacks in rural southeastern states focusing on "Informal Social Networks in Support of Elderly Blacks in the Black Belt of the United States." The Life History Interview was designed to facilitate the development of descriptive and explanatory data on personality development, changes in individual life styles, social roles, and community organization. This study limited its scope to data from two states: Mississippi and Louisiana. The following hypotheses were tested in this study: 1. There is a significant difference between males and females in attitudes toward death. 2. There is an inverse relationship between age and attitudes toward death. 3. Protestants have more positive attitudes toward death than Catholics. To analyze these data, secondary analysis involving descriptive and inferential techniques were used. The findings showed that there was no relationship between sex and attitude toward impending death. However, a significant inverse relationship was found between age and attitudes toward death. The findings also showed that Protestants had significantly more positive attitudes toward death than Catholics. It was concluded that age and religious group affiliation have significant effects on attitudes toward impending death. However, there was no apparent relationship betweens sex and attitudes toward impending death.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure healthcare professionals’ knowledge and attitudes about near-death experiences (NDEs) that would demonstrate acceptable psychometric properties. In consultation with a focus group of six NDE experts, I developed the 50-item Knowledge and Attitudes toward Near-Death Experiences Scale (KANDES), including the 24-item KANDES–Attitude subscale (KANDES-A) and the 26-item KANDES–Knowledge subscale (KANDES-K). Including a pilot administration in which feedback indicated no need for revision, a total of 256 professional and student counselors completed the KANDES. Separate reliability and validity analyses were conducted for each subscale. For the KANDES–A, Cronbach’s alpha was .909, and Pearson’s r for test-retest was .748, both indicating acceptable reliability. An exploratory factor analysis indicated four factors to retain and yielded a factor solution that explained 54.87% of the variance, an acceptable amount of variance to substantiate construct validity. For the KANDES–K, Cronbach’s alpha was .816, indicating acceptable reliability. For each of the scale’s three domains, Cronbach’s alpha was .816 for Domain 1: NDE Content, .817 for Domain 2: NDE Aftereffects, and .631 for Domain 3: Experiencer Characteristics, indicating acceptable reliability. Pearson’s r for test-retest on the total KANDES–K was .812, further demonstrating acceptable reliability.

Doctor of Juridical Science
This thesis challenges a number of claims that are made in the context of the euthanasia debate: that there is only one version of the good death; that rights discourse is the most appropriate vehicle by which to secure legal recognition of a right to die; that the Netherlands is either a model for reform or the epitome of a slippery slope in its regulation of euthanasia; and that a key argument in the euthanasia debate, the sanctity of life doctrine, is a fixed, immutable concept. In this thesis I use process sociology, developed by Norbert Elias, in order to capture changing sensibilities toward death and dying in the common law jurisdictions (Australia, England, the United States of America, Canada and New Zealand) and in the Netherlands. At the same time I analyse changing attitudes among key groups whose work impacts upon the euthanasia debate namely, parliamentarians, law reform bodies, the judiciary and medical associations. My aim in adopting this approach is threefold. First of all, to examine evolving attitudes to death and dying in order to determine whether the institutions of law and medicine are responding in an adequate manner to changing sensibilities in the common law countries and in the Netherlands. Secondly, to highlight shifting balances of power within the euthanasia debate. Thirdly, to assess whether the various options for reform that I discuss are workable or not. In this thesis I show that there appears to be a sensibility of support in the common law countries for euthanasia to be legally available when an adult is terminally ill, is experiencing pain that he or she cannot bear and has expressed a wish to die (the typical euthanasia scenario). However, the situation is far from clear cut. The methods adopted by one of the ways of measuring sensibilities, opinion polls, suggest that sensibilities may not always be well-informed. Further, attitudes within and between key groups are not uniform or settled. In the context of this unsettled state of affairs, I show that responses to changing sensibilities from law and medicine in the common law jurisdictions are far from satisfactory. So far as legal responses are concerned, case law outcomes in right to die applications suggest a lack of flexibility. Outcomes in prosecutions following active voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide reveal a non-application of established legal principles and suggest that the courts do not focus, squarely, upon the real issues at stake in the euthanasia debate. Medical responses are similarly less than optimal due to a tendency to de-emphasise existential (emotional) pain which, research shows, is the prime motivating factor in requests to be assisted to die sooner. Responses to changing sensibilities to death and dying in the Netherlands are also unsatisfactory because of the disorganised manner in which euthanasia was legalised and because regulation is inadequate. I come to the conclusion that there are three ways in which we could possibly resolve these problems and increase the flexibility of responses to changing sensibilities toward death and dying. They are as follows: by legalising euthanasia; by permitting a defence of necessity; or, by liberalising the use of terminal sedation in end-of-life care. Of these three, I conclude, in light of shifting sensibilities and overall negative attitudes among key groups to euthanasia, that the last is the most appropriate option at the present time. In closing, I address some of the larger issues at stake in the euthanasia debate. In particular, I deal with the effect that changing sensibilities toward the process of dying have had upon human social life, leading to the problematic situation that Elias referred to as the ‘loneliness of the dying’.

The purpose of this study was to describe Registered Nurses’ attitudes toward death and their perspectives on education and training related to death and end-of-life patient care. A complementary goal was to determine whether nurses’ attitudes and perspectives are associated with background variables. The three attitudes toward death included anxiety, escape, and neutral attitudes. The background variables of the nurses included formal educational level, age, gender, ethnicity, years of nursing practice, state of residence, and area of nursing practice. A survey including four sections was used for data collection. The first section of the survey utilized an established 32-item survey based on the Death Attitude Profile Revised survey developed by Wong, Reker, and Gesser in 1994. The questions asked how nurses felt about the topic of death. The second section of the survey was about the extent of palliative care education and training, while the third section was concerned with the demographics of the respondents. Part four of the survey included two open-ended questions regarding attitudes toward death and how prepared respondents felt in meeting their patients’ end-of-life needs. The survey was sent to state nurses’ associations across the United States in 2015. Survey Monkey was the link for the survey and it was opened for a three-week period. The original responses totaled 248 participants. Responses with any missing values were excluded. The final dataset included 167 total responses. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis to determine the association between the variables of interest. The results of the study were most significant in relation to anxiety toward death. Nurses who were more experienced on the job, female, and with more formal education had lower anxiety levels, as did nurses with a higher confidence level in dealing with death. For the neutral attitudes, the best predictor was the rating of the nurses’ end-of-life preparation. The best predictor of the escape attitude was years of nursing experience. The results supported the need for college level end-of-life education and the significance role of nursing experience in relation to less anxiety towards death. The surprising result was that post-college end-of-life education actually increased the anxiety attitude toward death. More research is needed to ascertain if these results could be replicated. There is a need to determine what type of post-collegiate education would decrease death anxiety in nurses.

Nineteenth-century British fiction is often dismissed as necrophillic or obsessed with death. While the label of necrophilia is an apt description of the fetishistic representations of dead women prevalent at the end of the century, it is too narrow to fit literature produced earlier in the century. This is not to say that abnormal attitudes toward death are only a feature of the late nineteenth century. In fact, pathological attitudes toward death abound in the literature, but the relationship between the deceased and the survivor is not always sexual in nature. Rather, there is a clear shift in attitudes, from the chaste death fantasy, or attraction to the idea of death, prevalent in Gothic works, to the destructive, stagnant mourning visible in mid-century texts, and culminating in the perverse sexualization of dead women at the turn of the century. This literary shift is most likely attributable to the concurrent changes in attitudes toward sex and death. As sex became more acceptable, more public, via the channels of scientific discourse, death became a less acceptable idea. This “denial of death” is a direct reaction to the religious uncertainties brought about by industrialization. As scientists and industrialists uncovered increasing evidence against a literal interpretation of the Bible, more people began to doubt the nature of God and the existence of an afterlife. If there was no God, then there was no heaven, which raised questions about what happened to the soul after death. With the certainty of an afterlife gone, death became mysterious, something to fear, and the passing of loved ones was doubly-mourned as their fate was now uncertain.

This study investigated the social organization of a predominately black nursing home in the city of Atlanta and the care of severely ill residents. Five hypotheses were tested in this study: (l) The higher the status of staff in the nursing home, the more negative the attitudes towards the severely impaired patient. Stated another way, there will be an inverse relationship between staff status and attitudes toward severely impaired patients; (2) Staff members who exhibit high levels of religiosity are more likely than their low religious counterparts to experience positive attitudes toward death and dying; (3) The higher the external locus of control, the more positive the attitudes toward dying; (4) Negative attitudes toward the severely impaired patient will increase as the educational level increases; (5) Positive attitudes toward aging will increase as the age of the staff member increases. Three out of these five hypotheses were partially confirmed (hypotheses 1, 3, and 5) and two (hypotheses 2 and 4) were rejected. The qualitative data obtained through informal interviews with each of the two directors of Sadie G. Mays indicated that the severely impaired patients were assigned to an exclusive ward (Ward D) in order to improve the efficiency of the treatment program. Although these findings are quite applicable to Sadie G. Mays Nursing Home, caution is required before generalizing them to the entire minority nursing home staff population, due to the small sample size (N=25).

The rituals are present in many phases of the human life s transition; it is not different in the transition of life to death. Referring to death, men have been modifying in their way of relating with it, mainly when the issue is taking care and burying their dead people. The objective of this research is to understand the meaning of visits to the cemetery where people have their beloved ones buried. This research is about a qualitative study with nine participants that have lost someone close to them. The number of participants was reached by the sample saturation standard. Semi directed interviews and campus observations were made and analyzed. The results show that the visits awake many feelings, such as the possibility to understand the caring after death, or even guilt when the visits cannot be made for some reason. There is a belief in the existence of communication between the living and the death worlds and in the cemetery place as a local to understand life through the evocation of memories and regards. It was also observed that the Park Cemetery place is seen as a space that is not thought as a cemetery, by reflecting the beauty and the life, not realizing death. However, the traditional cemetery is seen as a heavy place that refers to death. Such results evidenced how much practicality, beauty and security are exceled in contemporaneity, highlighting the increasing outsourcing of the caring through the mortuary business. Besides that, it is possible to conclude that society banes death and that how new spaces and services have been corresponding and consolidating this social request. Therefore, it is necessary that people reflect more about death rituals, highlighting the Psychology area which needs publications about this issue.
Os ritos estão presentes em muitas fases de transição da vida humana e não é diferente na passagem da vida para a morte. No que se refere à morte, o homem vem modificando sua forma de se relacionar com ela, principalmente quando se fala de cuidar e enterrar seus mortos. Este estudo tem por finalidade compreender o significado da visitação a um cemitério para pessoas com entes queridos enterrados no mesmo. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo com nove participantes que haviam perdido alguém próximo. O número de participantes foi atingido mediante o critério de saturação de amostra. Foram realizadas entrevistas semidirigidas e observações de campo, analisadas pelo método de análise de conteúdo. Os resultados apontam que as visitas despertam vários sentimentos, como a possibilidade de estender o cuidado para depois da morte ou até mesmo a culpa quando as visitas não são possíveis por algum motivo. Há a crença na existência da comunicação entre o mundo dos vivos e o mundo dos mortos e no espaço do cemitério como um local de estender a vida através da evocação de memórias e lembranças. Também observou-se o espaço do Cemitério Parque como um local que não se parece com um cemitério, por refletir a beleza e a vida, não sendo percebida a morte. Em contrapartida, o cemitério tradicional é visto como um lugar pesado e que remete à morte. Tais resultados evidenciaram o quanto, na contemporaneidade, prima-se pela praticidade, segurança e beleza, destacando-se, assim, a crescente terceirização do cuidado através do mercado funerário. Além disso, é possível inferir que, socialmente, procura-se banir a morte e o quanto novos espaços e serviços vêm correspondendo e consolidando a essa demanda social. Desta forma, é necessário que se reflita mais sobre os rituais na morte, destacando a área da Psicologia, que carece de publicações deste tema.

Guided by the value of equal opportunities, the present thesis strives to provide indicators for psychosocial intervention that contribute to the eradication of gender stereotypes. For this purpose, a novel theory is proposed and tested. In a frrst article, possible precursors and dynamics of gender stereotypes are reviewed. As a result, one precursor of gender stereotypes is detected in the management of death anxiety. Death attitudes, especially death acceptance, are hence to be tackled for radical intervention in gender stereotypes. After a review of the gender concept's fragmentary application in current research, the dynamics of gender are examined from a queer perspective. As a consequence, gender as a generic term includes prescriptions for bodily traits (sex), psychological traits (gender as a specific term) and for relational traits (desire) in this thesis. In conclusion, queer terror management theory (Q1MT) is proposed as a novel framework for psychosocial intervention in gender stereotypes. The second article puts the theory to an initial test. The first QTMT hypothesis assumed sex, gender and desire as factors of a queer gender construct. Despite a tendency of most associations to confirm the expectation, the given sample size and measures resulted as insufficient to test the assumption. Therefore, the frrst hypothesis could not yet be corroborated. The second QTMT hypothesis assumed a reducing effect of death acceptance on gender stereotypes. Since hypothesis 1 was not confirmed, stereotypes on sex, gender and desire were considered separately. Data for death acceptance yielded ambivalent results. On an implicit level, stereotypes for gendered trait ascription slightly diminished with higher death acceptance. However, explicit death acceptance increased ambivalent sexism towards women. Both associations were weak. Covariate analysis yielded stronger associations between the death acceptance precursor of implicit death valence and implicit stereotypes on sex, gender and desire. No explicit measure for death valence was available. A third QTMT hypothesis expected the association between death acceptance and gender stereotypes to be moderated by reminders to one's own mortality (mortality salience). The well-evidenced mortality salience effects did not occur. Results support the idea of a publication bias in mortality salience research. Throughout the present research, personal well-being was considered as a possible covariate in order to ensure participants' integrity in future interventions. Findings of the second article indicate that death denial increased fear of death and lowered self-esteem. By contrast, death acceptance was associated with higher self-esteem, more positive affect and increased life satisfaction. Quantitative results of the second article raised questions about people's emotional reactions to death reminders in regards to death valence and terror management strategies. These questions were addressed by a third article with a mixed method design. Results revealed complex emotional reactions to death reminders beyond the mortality salience expectation of exclusive death denial. Death denial was associated with negative death valence. By contrast, positive death valence was associated with more conscious death fear, but with less implicit death anxiety. In an interrelation of research findings and theories, a revised ontology for terror management strategies is proposed. The review of terror management processes was necessary to explain the previous results of the present research and further studies. Death valence may be an alternative explanation for mortality salience effects. More importantly though, an in-depth understanding of terror management processes detects the starting points for psychosocial intervention in gender stereotypes. In conclusion, death valence rather than death acceptance or mortality salience resulted as a tangible indicator for radical intervention in gender stereotypes. The queer gender concept, death valence concepts and measures, as well as the test of death valence as an alternative explanation for mortality salience effects remain an open stage for future research. Finally, implications of the present research for psychosocial intervention in gender stereotypes are discussed. A palliative care perspective is adopted to intervention in gender stereotypes. Beyond conceptual questions, methods for interventions with individuals, groups and towards public policies are suggested.

This study examined the relationship between the attitudes about death and dying among Vietnam veterans who are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Essentially, does post-traumatic stress disorder have an impact upon their personal attitudes toward their own death? An original questionnaire was administered to examine the attitudes of the participants toward death and dying. The descriptive research design was utilized in this study to examine whether there was a significant relationship between the attitudes toward death and dying among Vietnam combat veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The sample in this study was thirty Vietnam combat veterans who are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, who currently receive readjustment counseling at the Atlanta Vet Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The hypothesis indicated that there will be no statistically significant relationship between the Vietnam combat veterans' experiences of post-traumatic stress disorder and their attitudes toward death and dying. The researcher's original survey instrument, Attitude Toward Death and Dying Scale (ATDADS) was utilized to obtain the Vietnam combat veterans' experiences of post-traumatic stress disorder and their attitudes towards death and dying. Findings indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and the Vietnam combat veterans' attitudes toward death and dying. The conclusion drawn from this study demonstrated that it is imperative to address the bereavement needs of Vietnam combat veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

This thesis investigates ‘the death of penal welfare’ in Britain. It traces the fortunes of penal welfare from c. 1930 to c. 1980. The term refers to measures promoting the reformation and welfare of offenders through the framework of the criminal justice system. Thus the institutions of criminal justice are not just punitive but also part of the state’s involvement in the welfare of its citizens through social services. The main contention of this thesis is that the raison d´être of penal welfare was the creation of Christian citizens and that its moral legitimacy came out of the widely accepted idea of Britain as a Christian nation. Furthermore, this study locates ‘the death of penal welfare’ as a consequence of secularisation. When the idea of Britain as a Christian community collapsed in the early 1960s, the set of beliefs that had allowed penal welfare to thrive and had enabled it to reconcile the tension between societal and personal responsibility fell apart as well. In offering an original framework for understanding the success and collapse of penal welfare, this thesis draws heavily on the historiography on British secularisation that has emerged throughout the last one and half decades. However, studying penal welfare also offers ways of challenging some of the understandings generated by the scholarship – not just on secularisation – but also on the welfare state and its relationship to voluntary religious organisations.

With the constant technological changes globally, organizations are now at the forefront of changing their business processes to be more competitive. These technological developments have brought in several shifts within business processes. Human resource management (HRM) has been dramatically affected by such changes more than ever, especially the recruitment process. As such, there is rising concern to shift from a traditional to an AI recruitment process. The adoption of AI in the recruitment process has remained relatively unexplored, especially within Swedish organizations. Despite its great discussion within academia and organizations, the limited amount of literature on the subject makes it interesting and current. Therefore, the main aims of this research are: (1) to analyze in which stages till date organizations are using AI in recruitment practices in Sweden and (2) to ascertain the attitudes of recruiters and recruitees towards the use of AI in the recruitment process in Sweden organizational context. This research adopted a qualitative approach with semi-structured approach interviews conducted with three recruiters and five recruitees in Sweden. The empirical findings of the study reveal that organizations have not fully implemented AI in the recruitment process. Factors such as timeframe, recruitment cost, work efficiency, and human biases were considered the top challenges of the traditional recruitment process. AI in the recruitment process can help reduce the lengthy time while increasing work efficiency with faster-recruiting methods. Organizations can share recruitment costs. Human biases can significantly be reduced with the use of AI at the pre-screening and selection stages. It was also discovered that the attitudes of recruiters and recruiters were seemingly positive towards the acceptance of AI in the recruitment process. Furthermore, AI was not seen as a threat to human jobs instead as a complementary role. This leads to the conclusion that AI can complement the recruitment process and AI cannot take human jobs since humans will still be needed for software development. This research provides contributions towards theoretical, practical, and social. This research offers an extent of the existing knowledge on the subject matter. It will help recruiters understand the importance of AI in the recruitment process. Furthermore, recruitees will be more accustomed to the idea of AI. In addition, the findings of this research can assist in the curriculum adjustment of educational institutions to best serve the needs of the changing business climate. At the government level, the findings can be used to encourage continuous innovation and learning. Furthermore, this research can be a starting point for other future research.

O desenvolvimento tecnológico e científico, nas últimas décadas, tem tornado possível prolongar a vida, aliviar a dor e apressar a morte. As situações de final de vida vêm tornando-se cada vez mais complexas e desafiadoras para profissionais de saúde, pacientes e familiares. Além das dificuldades resultantes dos próprios sentimentos e do pouco preparo para enfrentar situações tão complexas, os enfermeiros que atuam nas UTI têm a obrigação de conhecer e incorporar os avanços da tecnologia e as suas repercussões, de forma a permitir que profissionais da saúde, pacientes e família tomem as decisões sobre o cuidado. Diante deste alinhamento reflexivo e desafiador para o profissional de saúde que trabalha em UTI, o objetivo desse estudo foi compreender a experiência do enfermeiro no processo de tomada de decisão nas situações de final de vida vivenciadas em UTI adulto. Utilizou-se, como referencial metodológico, a descrição interpretativa. Nessa pesquisa, não se usou apenas um referencial teórico específico para orientar o processo de coleta e análise dos dados. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com 10 enfermeiros, de duas cidades diferentes: São Paulo e Curitiba, que trabalham há, pelo menos, 1 ano em UTI, independentemente da formação complementar, do tempo de formação e da instituição de vínculo. A análise temática indutiva possibilitou identificar 4 temas centrais: Fatores que influenciam no processo de tomada de decisão em final de vida, A tomada de decisão, O cuidado como obrigação moral, Vivenciando o sofrimento moral. Nossa pesquisa traz à tona uma série de dificuldades a serem enfrentadas, para que os enfermeiros consigam participação mais efetiva e com menos sofrimento no processo de tomada de decisão nas situações de final de vida. Assim, os resultados deste estudo podem contribuir para a compreensão da assistência ao paciente e à família, nas situações de final de vida, e para o aperfeiçoamento dos enfermeiros quanto ao processo de tomada de decisão e intervenções nestas situações.
In the past few decades, scientific and technological development has made it possible to lengthen lifetime, alleviate pain and hasten death. End-of-life situations have become more and more complex and challenging for health professionals, patients and families. In addition to difficulties brought by their own feelings and their lack of preparation to face such complex situations, nurses that work in ICUs need to know and incorporate the advances in technology and their repercussion, in order to allow health professionals, patients and families to make their decisions carefully. Given this challenging reflections for health professionals that work in ICUs, the aim of this study was to comprehend nurses experiences in decision-making processes in end-of-life situations lived in adult ICUs. Interpretative descriptions were used as methodological reference. In this study we did not only use specific theoretical references to guide the processes of data collection and analysis. The data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with ten nurses, who work for at least one year in ICUs, from two different cities: São Paulo and Curitiba. The nurses were chosen regardless of time of studying, complementary studies and bond institution. The inductive thematic analysis made it possible to identify four main themes: Factors that influence decision-making processes in end-of-life situations, Decision-Making, Carefulness as a moral obligation and Living through moral suffering. This research brings up a series of difficulties to be faced, so that nurses participate more effectively in decision-making processes in end-of-life situations with less distress. Thus, the results of this study can contribute for better understanding the assistance to patients and their families and for the improvement of nurses to interfere with decision-making processes.

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
教育學系生命教育碩士班
102
Modern medical technologies may prolong human’s life, but sometimes meaningless life extension becomes the torture of “bad death” to patients and their families. Instead of good death, it creates negative attitudes towards death, fearing and avoiding death. Death is a fact of life, if one could have positive attitudes towards death to prepare for “good death” from physical, mental and spiritual aspects, it could not only reduce the fear of facing death, but they would also learn how to cherish life and realize the meaningfulness of life. Therefore, this research is about college students’ attitudes towards death and good death and predicting the correlation between attitudes towards death and good death. This study would like to provide possible suggestions for planning college students’ programs regarding the life education and furthermore, as a reference of exploring the positive life meaning. This research used Si-Chi Chen’s (2007) polls and research data files about good death, spiritual health, and attitudes towards life and death. The original questionnaire used survey methods to research by targeting students from freshmen to seniors in one university by selecting and adopting 715 students through stratified random sampling and cluster sampling. This research analyzed the valid 673 questionnaires, deleting the incomplete questionnaires after checking the number of samples from the data base. The research tools included “Death Attitudes Scale”, “Good Death Scale”, questionnaires, and literature reviews. Death Attitudes Scale’s Cronbach’s α was.088 and Good Death Scale’s Cronbach’s α was.097. The results of this study showed that different subjects had different attitudes towards death and attitudes towards “good death”. The correlation and prediction on “approach acceptance” and good death attitudes (factor two: fulfill ultimate reality while facing death) is the highest. For good death attitudes by Death Attitudes Profile-Revised (DAP-R), the prediction of “neutral acceptance” and “approach acceptance” is better. For prediction of death attitudes by good death attitudes, good death attitudes “factor two: fulfill ultimate reality while facing death” is the best. The results suggest that college students’ life education programs should include the positive death attitudes and good death attitudes while adding religious culture about death topics into discussion, which lets college students face death naturally and live out the nature of life. Key words: college students, death attitudes, good death attitudes

碩士
國立嘉義大學
輔導與諮商學系研究所
99
The purpose of this study was to explore the correlation between the self-concept and the attitude toward death for the senior female volunteers of Tzu-Chi. The population of this questionnaire was purposely chosen from the senior female volunteers aged over fifty in Tainan County. The study surveyed a total of 160 volunteers and 150.of the samples were valid. The collected data was analyzed and interpreted by means of Descriptive Statistics,t-test, One-way ANOVA, and Multiple Regressive Analysis. The conclusions of the study were summarized as follows: 1. The senior female volunteers with different economic condition showed significant difference in self-concept. 2. The senior female volunteers with different health condition showed significant difference in self-concept. 3. The senior female volunteers with different marrige condition showed significant difference in self-concept. 4. The senior female volunteers with different marrige condition showed significant difference in “fear of death”, “medium acceptance toward death”, and “refusal of accepting death”. 5. The senior female volunteers with different educational levels showed significant difference in” fear of death”. 6. The senior female volunteers with different health condition showed significant difference in” fear of death”, “medium acceptance toward death”. 7. The senior female volunteers with different economic condition showed significant difference in” medium acceptance toward death”. 8. The self-concept of the senior female volunteers could not effevtively predict the attitude toward death. Some suggestions for educational institutions and further studies had been proposed according to the results.

碩士
南華大學
生死學研究所
89
Abstract The purposes of this research were to design a death education program for vocational nursing students and to explore change in attitudes toward death. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. The subjects were120 students from the vocational of nursing school in Chia-Yi. One of the classes which composed the population constituted experimental group (N=59) and the other constituted the control group (N=61). The students of experimental group participated in a fifty- minute ten-session death education program conducted by this researcher and the control group did not receive any treatment during the study period. The data were acquired with two death attitude scales, the fear of death scale and death anxiety scale, and one of the analysis of death constructs for the participants'''' narration of " the thoughts on death". The method of two way analysis of variance with mixed design had been used. The findings were as follows： 1. The death education program significantly reduced the nursing students'''' fear of death, fear death of self and fear death of others, the effects still maintained at the follow-up evaluation after four weeks of the course. 2. The death education program significantly reduced the nursing students'''' fear dying of others, the effects have not still maintained at the follow-up evaluation after four weeks of the course. 3. There was no significantly change in the nursing students'''' fear of self-dying and death anxiety. 4. On the participants'''' narration of " the thoughts on death" for death constructs, the experimental group were more positive changes. The results were discussed, and several suggestions about the applications of this study were also discussed so as to provide a reference for the future researchers and practical applications.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
衛生教育學系在職進修碩士班
94
The purpose of this study was to understand the influencing factors on college students’ attitude toward life and death. The population included 2120 students from a College of Technology in 2005. Four hundred and thirty one valid samples were studied by using stratified cluster sampling method, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe’s method, Pearson’s product moment correlation and multiple regression. The study shows that: 1. The students’ attitude toward life and death was positive. Their attraction to life ranked highest, their repulsion by death ranked second, their attraction to death ranked third, and their repulsion by life ranked last. 2. The students’ social support was above the average .They social support was mainly from friends and emotional. 3. The students’ attitude toward life and death was connected with gender, living with parents, the subjective status of mental and physical health, the experience of relatives’ and friends’ death, the impact of relatives’ and friends’ death, parent’s death, and parenting style. 4. The students’ social support and social support satisfaction were positively correlated with their attitudes toward life and death and the attraction to life. The students’ social support and social support satisfaction were negatively correlated with their repulsion by life. The students’ social support satisfaction was negatively correlated with their attraction to death. 5. The students’ attitudes toward life and death and the attraction to life, their repulsion by life, and their attraction to death can be predicted through gender, the subjective status of mental and physical health, parenting style, the social support and social support satisfaction Based on these findings, some recommendations have been drawn which can be the references as the education and counseling on college students’ attitude toward life and death and further researches.

碩士
高雄醫學大學
醫學社會學與社會工作學研究所
99
The Abstract Death is part of the life cycle. The issue of death is considered as a taboo to most people, especially to Chinese people. However, as aging residents increase in the Education and Nursing Institute, it will be a trend for the staff to face their resident’s death. The purpose of this study is to explore the staff’s past experiences when they confronted their resident’s death. Besides, this study also discovers their attitude toward student’s death. The researcher selects seven participants from the staff working in Educational and Nursing Institute. These participants at least have one experience to deal with the resident’s death event. By interviewing the seven participants and by observing how they describe their past experiences and death attitudes, the result of the analysis is presented through a variety of aspects as follows: 1.The participants’ experiences are mainly affected by the trend of social welfare. 2.The participants’ attitudes toward the resident’s death is diverse . 　 3.The participants’ attitudes toward the resident’s death contain personal and environmental levels. 4.The main coping strategy is their social support system. A good partner is the best social support for the participants. 　This research aims to understand the attitudes of the staff facing the resident’s death. The staff must recognize their own needs and find a good way to support them. In the long term, it will be easy to face the resident’s death and corpse care. Finally, based on the findings of the study, several suggestions for this institution and further research are provided.

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
生命教育教學碩士學位班
106
The purpose of this study is to explore funeral directors’ organizational commitment and their attitude towards affairs related to death. A questionnaire was utilized, and a convenience sampling method was applied for data collection. The research subjects were funeral directors in Taipei City, New Taipei City, and Yilan County. The research instruments included an organizational commitment scale, attitude towards pre-testament scale, and attitude towards hospice care scale. Two hundred questionnaires were distributed, and 186 valid responses were obtained. Descriptive statistics and a single-factor multivariate analysis of variance method were employed for data analysis. The results are as follows: The average rating of organizational commitment among funeral directors was 3.81. Specifically, their ability to identify with company values was found to have the highest rating, followed by their willingness to remain in their positions as proud members of their companies. Devotion to the job and desire to contribute continuously to the organization had the lowest ratings. Due to the special nature of their work, funeral directors appear to have high recognition and acceptance of the concept of the last pre-testament. Specifically, the importance of stipulating how personal financial affairs, property and estate, and inheritance should be handled in the will was found to have the highest rating. Instructions specifying the disposal of remains and ceremony had the second highest rating. Issues related to organ and body donation, life support, final words, and the execution of the will had the lowest ratings. Hospice care appeared to be well accepted by the subjects. The willingness to choose hospice care for both themselves and their family members on the last days of their life was found to have the highest rating. The willingness to establish an advance healthcare directive and serve as the agent for the advance healthcare directive of their family members were found to be rated lower, however. Furthermore, funeral directors with different personal backgrounds tended to have significant differences in organizational commitment, attitude towards pre-testament, and attitude towards hospice care. Funeral directors with various educational backgrounds, years of service in their position, and company types; who had a close family member who had died within two years of the investigation; and who held a funeral director certificate tended to significantly alter the level of organizational commitment. Specifically, funeral directors who received more education, were in their position for a greater number of years, worked for a branch of a chain-based foundation, had lost close family members within two years, and held a funeral director certificate appeared to have a higher level of organizational commitment. Holders of funeral director certificates were found to be more likely to establish their own pre-testament. Funeral directors with different educational backgrounds and work experience showed noticeable differences in their attitudes towards hospice care. Subjects who had received more education and had served in their position for 6 to 10 years appeared to be more likely to accept hospice care for themselves.

碩士
大葉大學
運動健康管理學系
107
The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of aging knowledge of silver-haired people on attitudes toward death and the impact of attitudes toward death on volunteers and religious partici-pation. A questionnaire survey was conducted by means of a sampling method, The sample collection time was from July to October 2018. A total of 293 questionnaires were collected. After deducting 38 invalid questionnaires, 255 valid questionnaires were collected for simple analysis. The results of the study showed that the aging knowledge of the study was weaker overall. The higher knowledge of physiological aging had no significant effect on the attitude of death; the higher knowledge of psychological aging, the less acceptable to face death; the higher physiological aging knowledge, the more positive attitude of death, the participation of volunteers and religious activities will be higher, and the attitude of death has the highest explanatory power for the participation of religious activities. Therefore, this study suggests that if aging knowledge can be learning and improving during the learning phase, perhaps in the face of changes in the ageing of the elderly, the attitude towards death can also be improved; and partici-pation in religion can ease the pressure of death and life. Keywords: Aging knowledge, Death attitude, Volunteer participation Participation in religious activities

碩士
臺北醫學大學
醫學人文研究所
101
The number of palliative care beds is increasing at an annual rate of about 5~10 % in domestic medical institutions. Therefore, how to improve the patient''s quality of palliative care become a concentrate can not be ignored. There are seven major themes of domestic hospice medical education, which includes palliative care presentation, series disease patient''s comfort care, the final symptom control, psychosocial and spiritual care of terminally ill patients and their families, the grief counseling of terminally ill and the bereaved families, Ethics and Law of hospice, hospice services and communication issues and referral system. The major purpose of this study is foucus on the change of life and death attitude for the medical students who attend the palliative medicine camp course. The questionnaire survey and depth interviews were conducted for these medical students to collect and analysis the information. The results of this study indicated the improvement of life and death attitude for these medical students and more understanding for hospice medical care. However, the shortern impacts of value were made effects for these jounior medical students. Finally, a positive attitude of life and death for these medical students will be not only help for their further medical education and work but also increasing the life quality of these terminally ill patients.

碩士
大葉大學
管理學院碩士在職專班
100
A　Study　of　 Involvement, Attitude toward Death, Meaning of Life And Happiness of Hospital Volunteers ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to discuss the actual condition of involvement, attitude toward death , meaning of life and happiness of hospital volunteers, and to analyze the relationship among these four variables. This study adopts two methods, including questionnaire survey, the literature review analysis, using convenience sampling and purposive sampling. The researcher took 400 hospital volunteers as the research subjects through the questionnaire and 300 were valid. The results were derived as following: 1.Health and service types of individual background variables show significant differences. 2.Hospital volunteers involvement and happiness has a significant positive correlation，in which the "self-expression" and happiness has the highest correlation. 3.Attitude toward death and happiness are significant correlated. "Neutral acceptance" and happiness ha a significant positive correlation, " approach acceptance" and happiness ha a significant positive correlation，"fear of death" and happiness has a significant negative correlation. 4. The meaning of life and happiness has a significant positive correlation. 5.The meaning of life，approach acceptance of attitude toward death, self-expression，involvement can predict the happiness of the hospital volunteers. The meaning of life have the highest prediction. The results of this study will be discussed and provided to related administration and service for reference and further study. Key Words：hospital volunteers，involvement，attitude toward death , happiness，meaning of life

碩士
國立臺北護理健康大學
護理研究所
101
Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study described nurses’ attitude toward care of the dying patient and death (ATCODD); and its’ relationship with nurses’ level of burnout (NLB) after controlling personal, professional and experience related to dying and death profile of nurses that work in acute regional hospitals in Belize. Study Design: This is a descriptive and correctional study. Setting and Sampling: A total of 82 nurses were recruited from two regions within Belize, the central region from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and the western region from the Western Regional Hospital.. Method: Data was collected by using two structured questionnaires, Frommelt Attitude toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD), Cronbach alpha in this study was 0.77 and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), the Cronbach alpha 0.79, Cronbach alpha for subscales of OLBI ranged from 0.67 to 0.70. Nurses were asked to give a written description of their caring experience with dying and death. Results: The sample consisted of 92.7% female, 47.6% singled and 36.6% married. Mean age was 33.4 years; mean years of working experience were 9.46 years. Nurses’ attitude toward care of the dying and death were tended to be positive (χ̅ = 3.72 on a 5-point scale). Nurses’ level of burnout was 2.33 on a 4-point scale. The nurses’ attitude toward care of dying and death was not related to personal, professional and experiences related to dying and death and to burnout. Closer examination of each item of FATCOD found that items related to scopes of End-of-life care, such as family support, connectivity and death communication significantly differed by gender, working experience, religion, working units and ethnicity. The content analysis of nurses’ written description showed nurses’ experience of caring for the dying and death were characterized as emotional fatigue, comfort and comfort measures, reflection life, death and meaning and time consuming. Discussion/Conclusion: The attitude toward care of dying and death tended to be positive and nurses in this study supported the caring philosophy in end-of-life care. However some nurses expressed emotional fatigue or symbols of burnout from their caring experience of dying and death patients and their families. The reflection on life and death were used to assist with managing and coping with the care of the dying. Staff support or education may be needed to assist these nurses as caring for the dying and death. Further study is warranted to further explore the relationship between attitude toward care of dying and death and nurses burnout.

碩士
國立臺東大學
特殊教育學系碩士班
96
Purpose of the study was influence of life and death approach life education courses on the concept of death, loss of the concept, Attitudes toward death and the meaning of life attitude of gifted students in junior high school. This study used quasi-experimental method to Taitung City in the first year of new funding for the study eugenics, students receive eight weeks of the experimental courses, and "life and death education rating scale" research tool, a pre-test and after side and tracking tests, the information in an independent sample single-factor analysis of covariance collating, and the unit through their record of activities, curriculum and teacher feedback form observation records such information as a supplement quantitative information to understand the effectiveness of the implementation of program. (1) After the intervention of life and death orientation courses, the students in the concept of death no significant differences. (2) After the intervention of life and death orientation courses, the students have lost the concept of the immediate effects, and the continuing effects. (3) After the intervention of life and death orientation courses, the students in the concepts of life and death on the immediate effects, and the continuing effects. (4) After the intervention of life and death orientation courses, the students in the meaning of life on the immediate effects, and the continuing effects. (5) Life and death education courses for the future experimental group received by students and teachers, with the effect of teaching. Finally, in accordance with the findings of the curriculum design, teaching those interested in life and death, as well as the future direction of research put forward specific recommendations.

碩士
國立中正大學
犯罪防治研究所
91
The purpose of this research is to explore whether the attitude toward death of juvenile homicides differs from the attitude of teenagers who have never committed any crime. The research samples are 2,018 teenagers, including 1,070 criminal teenagers selected from Tao-Yuan Reformatory, Zhang-Hua Reformatory, Xin-Zhu Cheng-Zheng High School and Kao-Xiong Ming-Yang rectifying school; 948 normal teenagers selected from Xin-Zhu, Tao-Yuan, Tai-Zhong and Jia-Yi Junior and Senior High School. Testing on these 2018 teenagers, we got the valid samples of 160 juvenile homicides and 682 teenagers who have never committed crime. Following is our findings: 1. Compared by the number of those who lose their father, juvenile homicides are 6 times more than teenagers who have no criminal record ; while the number of whose mother have died are 5 times more. 2. Juvenile homicides care more about death. However, they concern more about their “own” death. They don’t show clear difference in the feeling on their family members’ death. 3. Juvenile homicides don’t appear to fear death more. But they do worry more about their own death, and they tend to believe death is an agonizing experience like a nightmare. 4. Juvenile homicides show no clear difference in their acceptance of death. But it’s more difficult for them to accept the fact that “Death is inevitable” “People all die one day.” They talk with others about death more often. 5. Juvenile homicides have higher tendency toward death. Juvenile homicides don’t mind dying now. They view death as being released from this world. They think death is a tragical and romantic experience. When they watch the scenes of killing on TV or movie, they get excited more easily than other teenagers and more easily the scenes arouse their intention to kill themselves or somebody they hate. 6. Juvenile homicides tend to believe in the world after death, even the possibility or immorality. Higher rates of them are willing to die young or die at the beginning of their lives. When juvenile homicides think of their own death, they feel melancholy and sad strongly, while teenagers who have never committed crime feel released and view death as end of lives mainly. Most juvenile homicides consider the lives of serious cases should be maintained while the other group believe this depend on the patients’ age, mental and physical situation and the extent of pain. 7. For both the sample group, those who have religious belief fear more about death. Juvenile homicides whose families talk about death openly have higher tendency and concern about death. For the other group, whose families talked about death openly are less afraid of death. Their tendency and concern toward death are higher. Among normal teenagers, those who have visited serious patients and those who lose their fathers concern more about death. Those whose health situation is worse have higher tendency and concern toward death. According to this research, we propose the following suggestions: 1. For family and social organization: Pay more attention to teenagers who lose their parent. 2. For education organization: Reinforce life education. 3. For rectifying organization: Use the influence of religion to prevent teenagers from killing themselves and others. 4. For society: Strengthen on clearing the media, hoping to help teenagers learn treasuring their lives and lives of others, hence reduce juvenile killing and violent crime.

碩士
國立臺北護理健康大學
生死與健康心理諮商系
105
The Purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among death attitude, euthanasia and mental health on the new Switzerland Taiwanese people.In order to achieve the purpose mentioned aboved, a questionnaire survey method was conducted, 96 aged between 20 to 61 years old completed the questionnaire. The analysis of the data revealed the following main conclusions： 1. The melancholy of the new Switzerland Taiwanese different from different living situation. 2. The death to escape attitude of the new Switzerland Taiwanese different from different euthanasia attitude. 3. The death anxiety attitude, death to escape attitude and neutral acceptance attitude of the new Switzerland Taiwanese different from different religious belief. 4. The death anxiety attitude, neutral acceptance attitude, tend to accept attitude and free to accept attitude of the new Switzerland Taiwanese different from different euthanasia lawful. 5. The death anxiety attitude and tend to accept attitude of the new Switzerland Taiwanese different from different euthanasia organization. 6. The death anxiety attitude of the new Switzerland Taiwanese different from different mental health.

碩士
長庚大學
護理學研究所
90
Abstract The purpose of the study is to understand community-dwelling elders'' meaning of life, attitudes toward death, quality of life and discuss the relationship and predictor indicators between related variables and meaning of life, attitudes toward death and quality of life in advance. A randomized (probabilities proportional to size measure) cross-sectional survey of 308 community-dwelling elders was taken in Yunlin County. Instruments included demographic data, Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire, Barthel''s index, Chinese Health Questionnair-12, Life Change Event, Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors, and Purpose in Life Test, Death Attitude Profile, WHOQOL-BREF Taiwan Version. The results showed: 1. A combination of "gender", "education level", "psychological function", "life change event effect degree", and " social support behavior", and "social support satisfaction" explained 65% of the variability of the meaning of life in elders. Among these variables, social support was the most powerful predictor that explained 46% variability. 2. In the issue of attitude toward death: A combination of "age" and "life change events amount" explained 6% of the variability of "fear of death & dying". A combination of "personal value", "perceived self-healthy", "age", "living area" and "living situation" explained 19% of the variability of "approach-oriented death acceptance". A combination of "personal value", "age", "psychological function", "perceived self-healthy", "social support behavior", "meaning of life", "religion", "social support satisfaction ", "living situation", "religion piety" and "living area" explained 49% of the variability of "escape-oriented death acceptance". While a combination of "education level", "life change events amount", "descendant of accomplishment", "living area", "living situation" and "religion piety" explained 14% of the variability of "neutral-oriented death acceptance". 3. In the issue of quality of life: A combination of "meaning of life ", "perceived self-healthy", "social support behavior", "daily life function", "escape-oriented death acceptance", "sex", "psychological function", "age", "education level", "living situation", "living area" and "religion piety" explained 78% of the variability of the quality of life in elders. Among these variables, social support behavior was the most powerful predictor that explained 52% variability. The results of this study improve the understanding of meaning of life, attitudes toward death and quality of life from elders'' perspective for services providers. Thus, appropriate programs to promote elders'' quality of life will be developed. Key words: elder, meaning of life, the attitude toward death, quality of life

碩士
國立臺東大學
教育學系(所)
97
Abstract This study focuses on how current Christian elders think about life’s meaning and their attitude toward death. The relationship between the mentioned two is also included. The study aims to understand what is the meaning of life for a Christian elder; to explore a Christian elder’s concept of death; to understand a Christian elder’s attitude toward death; to explore the relationship between the meaning of life and the attitude toward death. Adopting qualitative research methods, the researcher interviewed ten Christian elders with a pre-designed questionnaire and took a recording after receiving consent from the interviewees. Analyzing the verbatim based on the recording, the researcher concludes: a. Christians elders hold positive attitudes toward life, including “the completion of family responsibility”, “people-helping”, “health- Keeping”, “belief-searching”, “life-growing”. b. Christian elders’ concepts for death include “Death is a transitional stage for eternal life”﹐“It is the Heaven that one can go to after death”, ”the revival and the eternal life”. c. For Christian elders, they face death easily, give themselves to God and are obedient to God, for Jesus’ assured lead .In other hand, they are not afraid of death but full of hope to the world after death. At the same time, they faced families’death replacing blessings with sadness, being glorious for them, wishing to meet them again in Heaven. Death means “approach-oriented acceptance; that is, they are not afraid of either death or resistant and are willing to lose their life even if Jesus tells them to do so. d. There is a negative correlation between a Christian elder’s concept of life meaning and the attitude toward death. According to the research, we found that Christian elders’ life experience provoked a reflection of life and death. That is, their death inspired life. Life are forced to be prepared for death. The certainty to life make them face death frankly. A Christian elder is always ready to go no matter when God picks him up.

碩士
亞洲大學
健康產業管理學系長期照護組 在職專班
99
The phenomenon of “sent dying resident to hospital for expiration” existed in long-term care facility, which against “good-death” principle of hospice. Hence this research mainly has four goals:(1) Understanding “Good-Death Belief” of care-staff in long-term care facility (2) Investigating “ Attitude Toward the Care of Dying residents” and its relevant factors of care-staff in long-term care facility (3)Investigating associations between “ Good-Death Belief ” and “ Attitude Toward the Care of Dying residents” of care-staff in long-term care facility (4) Investigating of relevant factors influencing care-staff’s “whether supporting residents can choose to die in the facility” in long-term care facility. Structured questionnaire include “Attitude Scales toward the Care of Dying Patient” (translated and adjusted from “Attitude Scales toward the Care of Dying Patient” of Brent (1991)) and “Scales toward Good-Death Belief”. Cross-sectional survey was conducted, a total of 372 care-staff in long-term care facility (including nursing-staff and care-attendant) enrolled from middle counties of Taiwan (Taichung City, Nantou County, Changhua County). After a total of 420 copies issued, 384 were recovered and 372 valid questionnaires were acquired (effective recovery rate of 96.9%). The data was analyzed via Chinese version of SPSS12.0 statistical software. The main statistical methods include Descriptive Analysis, Independent Sample t-Test, One-way ANOVA Analysis, Pearson’s Correlation Analysis, Chi-square, Stepwise Regression Analysis, Binary Logistic Regression Analysis. The results show: (1)About “Good-Death Belief” of care-staff, care-staff focus on “psychological” and “spirituality” dimensions; (2) “Good-Death Belief” makes care-staffs’ “Personal satisfaction” , “professional challenge” and “professional harvest” dimensions (emphasizing a sense of achievement, positive emotion and professional attitude of “dying residents care attitude”) more positive ; (3) About End-of-life Care attitude of care-staff, there is still more negative attitudes toward death and care-staff lack of ability to discuss issues related to death ;(4) After stepwise regression analysis, the relevant factors of “Attitude Toward the Care of Dying residents” include: family talk about death or burial, perceived health status, more than three days of death or life education, age, experience for funeral rites, experience of dying, but only 17.3% of the variance could be explained ; (5) Care-staff who do not support “residents can choose to die in the facility” accounted for 54.3%. After logistic regression analysis, “facility supporting residents can choose to die in the facility” own the largest odds ratio (Odds Ratio = 48.601) among the relevant factors for “care-staff supporting residents can choose to die in the facility”. The rest include: no religion, “take-care” of terminally ill or dying residents, number of take-care for dying patients or residents is greater than (with) 10. For improving end-of-life care ability and nurturing positive attitude for end-of-life care, this study provided recommendations for future research, long term care education and training curriculum, development of life education, long-term care policy and end-of-life practice. And researcher wishes to help terminally ill resident achieving “Good-Death” in the long term care facility.

碩士
國立臺南大學
教育學系輔導教學碩士班（到96學年度上止）
93
The purpose of this study was to explore the attitude toward death of high grade elementary students with self concept, interpersonal relationships and prosocial behavior. The participants were the5th grade elementary students of the public elementary school of the 92nd academic year in Tainan City. This study is available with “The Children Self-Concept Scale”, “The Elementary Student Interpersonal Relationships Scale ”,“The Prosocial Behavior Questionnaire”, “The Children’s Attitude Toward Death” to determine the level of life adjustment. All the data were classified by the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s product-moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression. The outcome of the formula indicated the following points: 1. The current levels of the self-concept, interpersonal relationships, prosocial attitude and attitude toward death of high grade elementary students were in good conditions. The attitude toward death was generally regarded as neutrally accepted. 2. Self concept had effects on the attitude toward death of the high grade elementary students. The ones with lower self-concept, the higher identification level of Escape Acceptance and Fear of Death had they. Neutral Acceptance was highly identified with those who had high self-concept. 3. Interpersonal relationships had effects on high-grade elementary students. The illier interpersonal relationshiped were, they highly identified with “Escape Acceptance” and “Fear of Death”. The well interpersonal relationshiped were, they considerable identified with “ Death Avoidance” and “Neutral Acceptance”. 4. Prosocial behavior had effects on high grade elementary students. The ones with lower prosocial behavior tendency, they considerably identified with “Fear of Death”. The one well prosocial behaviored and with high prosocial behavior tendency, they greatly identified with “ Approach Acceptance” and “ Neutral Acceptance”. 5. The relationships between the self-concept, interpersonal relationships and prosocial behavior of the high grade elementary students with their attitude toward death are significant. 6. The self-concept, interpersonal relationships and prosocial behavior of high grade elementary students had prediction upon attitude toward death. According to the findings, the research put forth suggestions to be referred to in studies and applied in educational counseling in the future.

碩士
國立臺北護理健康大學
生死教育與輔導研究所
99
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among afterlife beliefs, death attitude on the elderly people. In order to achieve the purpose mentioned above, a questionnaire survey method was conducted, 106 elderly people ecompleted two questionnaires. The results revealed the following main findings: 1. The effect of elderly people’s gender, age, education level and religious on afterlife beliefs was significant. 2. The effect of elderly people’s gender, marital status, education level and religious on attitude toward death was significant. 3. There was significant correlation between the elderly people，s afterlife beliefs and death attitude.

研究背景: 居住於安老院舍的長者通常患有多種不可逆轉的慢性疾病或未期病症。相對其他組群，他們將更快面對臨終與死亡的問題。因此，了解他們對「臨終問題」的態度、臨終地方的選擇意向及其預測因素是非常重要的。研究所得資將有助提供優質的“善終“服務予這群弱勢的長者。
研究目的: 本研究旨在探討有關居於香港安老院舍的長者對「臨終問題」的態度、臨終地方的選擇意向、是否視安老院舍如同自己的家及其預測因素。
研究方法: 本研究採用橫斷面量性研究的方法，以便利抽樣方式在香港不同地區的安老院舍進行研究。研究對象為年齡65歲或以上，及簡短智能測試達6分或以上，並能以廣東話溝通的安老院舍長者。研究採用結構性問卷以面對面訪談形式進行，作者把「對臨終問題的態度調查問卷」翻譯成中文版本用作調查長者對臨終問題的態度。並採用EQ-5D和Barthel Index (20) 以評估長者的自我健康評估及日常生活自我照顧能的狀況。調查問卷亦包括探討長者對安老院視為自己的家的看法和死亡地點的選擇。收集之數據採用了二分類邏輯回歸進行各因素與結果變量之間的單因關聯分析，那些p值<0.25的因素被選定為候選自變量，然後利用逐步多因素邏輯回歸分析來劃定結果變量的獨立相關因素。
研究結果: 合共317名來自20間安老院舍的長者參與了此項研究，包括248名女性(78.2%)和69名男性(21.8%)，年齡介乎65至99歲，平均年齡為84歲(標準差6.6)。多因素分析顯示多種預測因素與「臨終問題」的態度有著相關性；對於有家庭財政支持的長者來說，他們較傾向不同意由醫生作出所有有關照顧上的決定；有接受教育和患有較多慢性病的長者較傾向同意訂立預前指示；那些在安老院舍居住時間較長的長者較傾向不同意使用藥物讓他們可以隨時選擇結束生命；但患有糖尿病者較傾向同意安樂死；有宗教信仰者較傾向同意靈性或宗教的支持對他們是重要的。此外，310名安老院舍長者(97.8%)認為安老院舍如同自己的家。有261名長者 (68.1%) 表示希望在目前的安老院去世。那些認為安老院舍如同自己的家、有獨立經濟支持、及同意安樂死的院舍長者，較傾向希望在目前的安老院去世。
研究結論: 本研究譂述了居於香港安老院舍的長者對「臨終問題」的態度及其相關因素的實證結果。研究發現幾乎所有安老院舍的長者視安老院舍如同自己的家，明顯地相當多的長者表示如果條件允許下，希望在目前的安老院舍去世。這種強烈的聲音指出我們需要發展院舍的臨終照顧以滿足院舍長者的需要及期望。而從獲悉長者對「臨終問題」的態度及臨終地方的選擇意向，可讓醫護專業人員在安老院舍裡更有效地規劃臨終照顧服務，並能讓長者善終與好死。
Background: Older people living in residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) have high incidences of irreversible chronic illnesses and terminal diseases. They are the most significant group facing impending death and dying. It is vital to understand their attitudes toward end of life (EOL) issues and their preference for EOL care in order to promote their quality of life.
Objective: This study aims to examine the attitudes toward EOL issues, the preference for place of death, the perception of RCHE as a resident’s own home and their predictors amongst older RCHE residents in Hong Kong.
Method: A cross-sectional quantitative study with convenience sampling was conducted in RCHE in different regions of Hong Kong. RCHE residents aged ≥65 achieving abbreviated mental test score ≥6 and who were able to communicate in Cantonese were recruited. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected. Health and functional status were measured by Euroqol-5D and Barthel Index (20). The “Attitudes of older people to end of life issues questionnaire“ was translated from the English version into a Chinese version and employed to examine the attitudes toward EOL issues. The perception of RCHE as own home and the preference for place of death were examined. Univariate analysis on the association between the outcome variables was performed. Factors with a p value <0.25 in univariate analyses were selected for multivariable logistic regression to delineate factors independently associated with the outcome.
Results: A total of 317 participants including 248 (78.2%) women and 69 (21.8%) men from 20 RCHE participated in the study. Their mean age was 84 ± 6.6 (mean ± SD). As showed in multivariate analysis, respondents financially supported by their family were less likely to allow doctors to make all the decisions about their care. Those respondents with higher number of morbidities and had higher education were more likely to agree with making a living will. Those who lived longer in RCHE were less likely to agree to having a drug at their disposal to end their life. Respondents with diabetic mellitus were more likely to agree with euthanasia. Respondents who followed a religion were more likely to agree on the importance of spiritual or religious support. Furthermore, 310 (97.8%) respondents perceived RCHE as their own home. Two hundred and sixteen (68.1%) residents wished to die in their present RCHE. Residents with the means to support themselves financially, agreed with euthanasia and who perceived RCHE as their own home were more likely to wish to die in RCHEs.
Conclusion: Nearly all residents perceived RCHEs as their own home and a significant proportion wished to die there if conditions allowed. This asserts that EOL care in RCHE should be developed to meet the wishes of the older residents. This study delineated significant factors associated with the attitudes of older people toward EOL issues. Knowing those factors allows health care professionals to plan for quality EOL care services in RCHEs more effectively and foster good death for this vulnerable population.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Law, Po Ka.
Thesis (D.Nurs.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-173).
Abstracts also in Chinese; appendixes includes Chinese.
Chapter 1. --- CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Chapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 1.2 --- Epidemiology data of ageing in Hong Kong --- p.3
Chapter 1.3 --- Impact of ageing population --- p.4
Chapter 1.4 --- Residential care services in Hong Kong --- p.5
Chapter 1.5 --- Quality of residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) in Hong Kong --- p.7
Chapter 1.6 --- Definition of end of life care, palliative care and hospice care --- p.9
Chapter 1.7 --- End of life care in residential care homes in Hong Kong --- p.11
Chapter 1.8 --- Dying in place --- p.14
Chapter 1.9 --- Perception of RCHEs as own home --- p.15
Chapter 1.10 --- Factors influencing attitudes to end of life issues --- p.15
Chapter 1.11 --- The proposed framework --- p.18
Chapter 1.12 --- Aim of the study --- p.20
Chapter 1.13 --- Operational definitions of key terms --- p.20
Chapter 1.14 --- Significance of the study and its impact on the society and future service development --- p.22
Chapter 1.15 --- Overview of each chapter of the thesis --- p.24
Chapter 2. --- CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.25
Chapter 2.2 --- Literature search --- p.26
Chapter 2.3 --- Search results --- p.27
Chapter 2.4 --- Unmet need for end of life care in RCHEs in Hong Kong --- p.28
Chapter 2.5 --- EOL care in RCHEs of other Western and Asian countries --- p.33
Chapter 2.6 --- Preference for place of death --- p.34
Chapter 2.7 --- Attitudes toward end of life issues --- p.38
Chapter 2.8 --- Factors affecting older residents when choosing to die in RCHEs --- p.41
Chapter 2.9 --- Barriers to EOL care in RCHEs --- p.43
Chapter 2.10 --- Conclusion --- p.45
Chapter 3. --- CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD
Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.47
Chapter 3.2 --- Aim of the study --- p.47
Chapter 3.3 --- Objectives of the study --- p.47
Chapter 3.4 --- Research questions --- p.48
Chapter 3.5 --- Research design --- p.50
Chapter 3.6 --- Sample size --- p.51
Chapter 3.7 --- Study setting --- p.52
Chapter 3.8 --- Sampling method --- p.52
Chapter 3.9 --- Data collection --- p.54
Chapter 3.10 --- Study instruments --- p.55
Chapter 3.11 --- Translation process for the AEOLI questionnaire --- p.60
Chapter 3.11.1 --- Establishing the semantic equivalence --- p.64
Chapter 3.11.2 --- Establishing the content and face validity --- p.66
Chapter 3.12 --- Pilot study --- p.67
Chapter 3.12.1 --- Testing the feasibility --- p.67
Chapter 3.12.2 --- Test-retest --- p.68
Chapter 3.13 --- Data cleaning --- p.70
Chapter 3.14 --- Data analysis --- p.70
Chapter 3.15 --- issues and consent Ethical --- p.72
Chapter 4. --- CHPATER FOUR: RESULTS
Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.74
Chapter 4.2 --- Recruitment of participants --- p.74
Chapter 4.3 --- Characteristics of the study sample
Chapter 4.3.1 --- Socio-demographic characteristics --- p.76
Chapter 4.3.2 --- Clinical characteristics --- p.79
Chapter 4.3.3 --- Functional and health status --- p.81
Chapter 4.4 --- Descriptive statistics of AEOLI-C, preference for place of death and perception of RCHEs as residents’ own home
Chapter 4.4.1 --- Descriptive statistics of AEOLI-C --- p.83
Chapter 4.4.1.1 --- Decision making (Attitude 1) --- p.83
Chapter 4.4.1.2 --- Pain (Attitude 5, 9, 20) --- p.83
Chapter 4.4.1.3 --- Care environment (Attitude 3, 6, 10, 15, 27) --- p.84
Chapter 4.4.1.4 --- Living wills (Attitude 8, 14, 19, 24) --- p.84
Chapter 4.4.1.5 --- Euthanasia / Physician assisted suicide (Attitude 4, 17, 18, 26) --- p.85
Chapter 4.4.1.6 --- Ageism (Attitude 13, 16, 23) --- p.85
Chapter 4.4.1.7 --- Psychological needs including religious/spiritual (Attitude 11, 25) --- p.85
Chapter 4.4.1.8 --- Quality versus quantity of life (Attitude 2, 7, 21, 22) --- p.85
Chapter 4.4.1.9 --- Societal awareness (Attitude 12) --- p.86
Chapter 4.4.2 --- Descriptive statistics of the perception of RCHEs as residents’ own home --- p.86
Chapter 4.4.3 --- Descriptive statistics of the preference for place of death --- p.86
Chapter 4.5 --- Correlational and logistic regression results
Chapter 4.5.1 --- Correlational and regression results of the predictive factors associated with AEOLI-C --- p.89
Chapter 4.5.1.1 --- Decision making (Attitude 1) --- p.89
Chapter 4.5.1.2 --- Pain (Attitude 5, 9, 20) --- p.90
Chapter 4.5.1.3 --- Care environment (Attitude 3, 6, 10, 15, 27) --- p.91
Chapter 4.5.1.4 --- Living wills (Attitude 8, 14, 19, 24) --- p.93
Chapter 4.5.1.5 --- Euthanasia / Physician assisted suicide (Attitude 4, 17, 18, 26) --- p.95
Chapter 4.5.1.6 --- Ageism (Attitude 13, 16, 23) --- p.97
Chapter 4.5.1.7 --- Psychological needs including religious/spiritual (Attitude 11, 25) --- p.99
Chapter 4.5.1.8 --- Quality versus quantity of life (Attitude 2, 7, 21, 22) --- p.100
Chapter 4.5.1.9 --- Societal awareness (Attitude 12) --- p.101
Chapter 4.5.2 --- Correlational and regression results of the predictive factors associated with the perception of RCHEs as residents’ own home --- p.104
Chapter 4.5.2.1 --- Relationship with socio-demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, health and functional status --- p.104
Chapter 4.5.2.2 --- Relationship with AEOLI-C --- p.108
Chapter 4.5.3 --- Correlational and regression results of the predictive factors associated with preference for place of death --- p.110
Chapter 4.5.3.1 --- Relationship with socio-demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, functional and health status --- p.110
Chapter 4.5.3.2 --- Relationship with AEOLI-C --- p.114
Chapter 4.6. --- Summary of the results --- p.116
Chapter 5. --- CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.117
Chapter 5.2 --- Characteristic of the participants --- p.118
Chapter 5.3 --- The attitudes toward end of life issues --- p.120
Chapter 5.3.1 --- Decision making (Attitude 1) --- p.121
Chapter 5.3.2 --- Pain (Attitude 5, 9, 20) --- p.123
Chapter 5.3.3 --- Care environment (Attitude 3, 6, 10, 15, 27) --- p.125
Chapter 5.3.4 --- Living wills (Attitude 8, 14, 19, 24) --- p.128
Chapter 5.3.5 --- Euthanasia / Physician assisted suicide (Attitude 4, 17, 18, 26) --- p.131
Chapter 5.3.6 --- Ageism (Attitude 13, 16, 23) --- p.133
Chapter 5.3.7 --- Psychological needs including religious/spiritual (Attitude 11, 25) --- p.135
Chapter 5.3.8 --- Quality versus quantity of life (Attitude 2, 7, 21, 22) --- p.136
Chapter 5.3.9 --- Societal awareness (Attitude 12) --- p.137
Chapter 5.4 --- The perception of RCHEs as residents’ own home --- p.138
Chapter 5.5 --- The preference for place of death --- p.140
Chapter 5.6 --- Summary --- p.143
Chapter 6. --- CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION
Chapter 6.1. --- Introduction --- p.145
Chapter 6.2 --- Limitations of the study --- p.145
Chapter 6.2.1 --- Generalization of the results --- p.145
Chapter 6.2.2 --- Lack of theoretical construct of the translated questionnaire --- p.147
Chapter 6.2.3 --- Limitations of quantitative study and cross-sectional design --- p.149
Chapter 6.3 --- Contributions of the study --- p.150
Chapter 6.4 --- Recommendations and implications to nursing practice --- p.152
Chapter 6.5 --- Implications to the EOL Care Practice in Residential Care Setting --- p.154
Chapter 6.6 --- Implications to residential care policy --- p.155
Chapter 6.7 --- Recommendations for further studies --- p.156
Chapter 6.8 --- Conclusion --- p.158
Chapter 7. --- REFERENCES --- p.160
Chapter 8. --- APPENDICES --- p.174

碩士
南華大學
生死學系
100
The purpose of this study was to understand the attitude of college students toward the death, their acceptability and willingness of using lifetime farewell ceremony and its correlation to the results due to the sample differences under the condition of background variables. 　 　　This paper applies the tools both from “the revision scale of the depiction of death attitude” made by Luo Su Ru (2000) and “lifetime farewell Scale” of researcher. The study will adopt the questionnaire research, sampling according to rule of Stratified Proportion and the participants from colleges and universities are in total 597 numbers. The statistic methods such as the descriptive statistics,independent samples t test, ANOVA, the Person product moment correlation and canonical correlation will be adopted as the tool of analysis. 　 　　The results come as following: 1. The students’ attitude toward death mainly to neutral acceptance, then approaching to accept degrees second and the fleeting acceptance scores the least. 2. The acceptability and willingness of college students to lifetime farewell ceremony scored slightly above the medium. 3. The genders of college students, school zones, health condition, religious and religiosity of religion believe are significant in the variable attitude toward death. 4. The differences of college students’ physical conditions and the school districts affect the results of the acceptability and willingness to use the lifetime farewell ceremony in great number. 5. The attitude of college students toward death correlates moderately with the acceptability and willingness of using the lifetime farewell ceremony. 6. There is a canonical correlation between college students’ attitude toward death and their acceptability and willingness of using the lifetime farewell ceremony.

碩士
南華大學
生死學研究所
92
The purpose of this study is to discuss the actual condition of the meaning of life, attitude toward death and the subjective well-being, and to analyze the relationship among these three variables. According to the conclusion of the research, specific suggestions could be made and provided to related administration and service for reference and further study. This study adopts three methods, including questionnaire survey, the literature review analysis, and depth interview, taking the elders in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu of Taiwan as parent population, using quota and snowball sampling..The effective samples are 200 questionnaires. The research uses the tool, “questionnaire of the meaning of life, attitude toward death, and the subjective well-being.”And the collected data is processed with the software package SPSS 8.0 for windows. Descriptive statistics, T-test, one-way ANOVA, Canonical correlation are also used. Findings from the a- nalysis are summarized as follows： 1. In the aspect of the meaning in life. (1) The meaning of life of the elders in Hsiao- Liu-Chiu is positive. (2) The meaning of life of the elders in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu can be affected by retirement and a decline in heath. (3) There makes a significant difference of meaning of life in the variables of personal background. 2.In the aspect of attitude toward death. (1) The attitude of death of the elders in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu expresses (appears to be) fear to the dying and the remained. (2) The attitude of death of the elders in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu can be affected by the traditional concept of death. (3) There makes a significant difference of death of the elders in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu in the variables of personal background which express (appear to be) the characters of flux and complicacy. 3. In the aspect of subjective well-being. (1) The subjective well-being of the elders in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu is high. (2) The source of the subjective well-being of the elders in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu included self-effort, effectual freedom, power and social support. (3) There makes a significant difference of subjective well-being in the variables of personal background . 4.The relationship of the sense of subjective well-being, the attitude toward death and the sense of meaning of life in Hsiao-Liu-Chiu of Taiwan. (1) There exists a Canonical correlation between the meaning of life and attitude toward death. The later has more interpreting power than the meaning in life. (2) There exists a Canonical correlation between the meaning of life and the subjective well-being. The meaning of life has more influential power than the subjective well-being. (3) There exists a Canonical correlation between the subjective well-being and the attitude toward death . The subjective well-being has more influential power than the attitude toward death. 5.There exists a Canonical correlation among the meaning of life, the attitude toward death, the subjective well-being and social support.Social support shows certain degree of influence.

碩士
國立臺北教育大學
生命教育與健康促進研究所
101
This study aims to understand the relationship between the concept of good death and the intention to undertake final life stage planning of the elementary school students and understand what are the differences when the elementary school students execute their intentions to undertake final life stage plannings in different personal backgrounds and with different experiences. In this study, we selected sixth grade students at elementary schools in new Taipei city as our official questionnaire test samples. We used probability proportionate to size sampling method (known as PPS) and selected 5 elementary schools randomly to execute our test. We gave out 548 copies of the questionnaires and got 471 valid questionnaires back. The usable rate is 85.9%. We used questionnaires that we already had as our research tools. The contents of questionnaires includes the scale chart of the concept of good death of elementary school children (inner expectations, good death and the environments when approaching the end of life) and the questionnaires of the intention to undertake final life stage planning of elementary school students (wishes fulfilling, relatives and friends getting together, life marks and death preparation). When we checked and calculated the reliability of these questionnaires, Cronbach's α values of two questionnaires above are .88 and .80, which are high reliability values. We analyzed our data by appropriate statistics methods from our valid questionnaires. According to the results from our data, we got conclusions as follows: 1.The average score of the concept of good death from our test samples is 3.81, which is mid-upper level. The average scores of each item of the concept of good death are inner expectations (3.93), the environments when approaching the end of life (3.80) and good death (3.54). 2.The average score of the intention to undertake final life stage planning from our test samples are 3.66, which is mid-upper level. The average scores of each item of the intention to undertake final life stage planning are as follows: relatives and friends getting together (4.14), life marks (3.76), wishes fulfilling (3.38), and death preparation (3.29). 3.There are significant differences for our test samples executing their intention to undertake final life stage plannings when they have different variables, such as「personal religion backgrounds」and 「having pet death experiences」. 4.There are significant differences for our test samples executing 「relatives and friends getting together」of their intention to undertake final life stage plannings when they have different variables, such as 「grades」, 「personal religion backgrounds」,「having pet death experiences」, 「mothers’ religion backgrounds」, 「taking relevant courses」, 「playing war or violent online games」. 5.There are significant differences for our test samples executing 「life marks」of their intention to undertake final life stage plannings when they have different variables, such as 「mothers’ religion backgrounds」, 「taking relevant courses」, 「playing war or violent online games」. 6.There are significant differences for our test samples executing 「death preparation」of their intention to undertake final life stage plannings when they have different variables, such as 「gender」. 7.From our test samples, we can see that the concept of good death and the intention to undertake final life stage planning have significant positive correlation. Each sub concept of the concept of good death and each sub concept of the intention to undertake final life stage planning also has positive correlation. 8.「the environments when approaching the end of life」of the concept of good death from our test samples can predict their intentions to undertake final life stage planning’s and its subconcepts 「wishes fulfilled」, 「relatives and friends getting together」, 「life marks」and 「death preparation」effectively. Also, 「inner expectations」of the concept of good health has higher prediction when they execute the subconcepts of 「relatives and friends getting together」and 「life marks」. At last, according to the conclusions of this study, we suggest that we should have life and death education, which is based on the concept of the Intention to undertake final life stage planning and make some recommendations for the future study.