Coping styles of Guyanese nurses in the face of patients’ deaths: A cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1806-6976.smad.2023.200281Keywords:
Attitude to Death, Psychological Adaptation, Mental Health, NursesAbstract
Objective: to investigate nurses’ strategies to cope with patients’ deaths and to explore potential
influences of cultural aspects on this phenomenon. Methodology: this is a cross-sectional study.
The participants were 85 Registered Nurses from a Guyanese regional hospital. Data collection
was carried out using a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Coping Strategies Inventory
by Lazarus and Folkman. Descriptive statistics and the Spearman’s correlation test, Student’s
t-test and Kruskal-Wallis test were performed to explore the data obtained. Results: most of the
participants were women (85.9%) of African descent (56.5%). The mean age was 29.63 years old
(SD=8.98), varying from 20 to 55 years old. Nurses have adopted the Planful problem-solving,
Self-controlling and Positive reappraisal coping strategies to deal with patients’ deaths, and religion
exerted an influence on the coping style they mentioned. Years as a Registered Nurse had positive
correlations between the Planned problem-solving, Positive reappraisal, Seeking social support and
Distancing coping styles related to patients’ deaths. Nurses professing the Hindu religion presented
higher scores related to the Escape-avoidance coping style. Conclusion: even without specific
training in coping with death, Guyanese nurses have adopted adequate coping strategies to deal
with this phenomenon. Cultural beliefs, such as religions of different philosophical and spiritual
frameworks, may influence nurses’ coping strategies in the face of patients’ deaths.
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Copyright (c) 2023 SMAD Revista Eletrônica Saúde Mental Álcool e Drogas (Edição em Português)
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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Grant numbers 001
