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Investigation of College Students’ Attitude towards Death with Dignity and the Teaching of Death with Dignity

Author(s)

Yao Wangchen1, Su Ruichong1, Chu Xiaoxiao1, Hu Xinpeng1, Wang Zhenzhen2

Affiliation(s)

1Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China. 2Experimental Teaching Center, School of Basic Medicine and Forensic Medicine, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

This paper is to assess the attitude of college students (social populations) towards death with dignity using the Attitude Scale for Death with Dignity developed by us, and to explore the teaching strategy of death with dignity. This attitude scale, based on three elements of attitude (i.e. cognition, affection, and behavioral intention), was developed in the form of Likert 5 subscale. Subsequently, the attitudes of 392 college students were evaluated following reliability and validity analysis of this scale. Additionally, a questionnaire was used to investigate the preference for teaching methods related to death with dignity among these students. The scale demonstrated the satisfactory dispersion degree and discrimination of items, the Cronbach's α of 0.86, each dimension’s composite reliability of more than 0.8, and correlation indexes for structural validity (i.e. chi-square=81.54, df=74, p=0.26, GFI=0.97, AGFI=0.96, CFI=1.00, RMSEA=0.02). College students had a positive attitude towards death with dignity and preferred to choose the media pathway for teaching related to death with dignity. The Attitude Scale for Death with Dignity by us had good reliability and validity. The instruction of death with dignity to college students should be diversified, such as the application of media propaganda technology in school teaching.

Keywords

Death with Dignity; Attitude; College Student; 5-Point Likert Scale; Teaching

References

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