AUTHOR=Han Huiwu , Ye Ying , Zhuo Hongxia , Liu Shaohui , Zheng Fan 

TITLE=Death attitudes and associated factors among health professional students in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1174325

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1174325

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background. China is entering an aging era with increased mortality among the aging population. Health professional students' attitudes towards death directly affect their quality of palliative care in their future careers. It is thus important to understand their death attitudes and associated factors to guide future educational and training development. 
Objectives. This study aimed to investigate the death attitudes and analyze the associated factors among health professional students in China. 
Methods. In this cross-sectional study, 1044 health professional students were recruited from 14 medical colleges and universities. The Chinese version of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised (DAP-R) was used to evaluate their death attitudes. A multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of attitudes toward death. 
Results. Health professional students tended to accept death more neutrally. Multivariate analysis showed that their negative death attitudes were associated with age (β=-0.31, p<0.001) and religious belief (β=2.76, p=0.015), while positive death attitudes were associated with age (β=-0.42, p<0.001), hearing of Advance Care Plan (ACP) (β=2.21, p=0.001), and attending funeral/memorial services (β=2.69, p=0.016). 
Conclusion. Our study stresses the importance of including death and palliative care education in healthcare courses among health professional students in China. Incorporation of ACP education along with experiences of funeral/memorial services may help promote health professional students’ positive attitudes toward death and improve the quality of palliative care in their future careers.