Attitudes of health science students towards death in Spain

Background: Health science students in Spain should be trained to manage the process of death and dying. Aim: To compare the perceptions, attitudes and fears of death from a sample of these students. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional and multi-centre study comprised 411 students studying degrees in medicine, nursing and physiotherapy. The variables used were the hospice-related death self-efficacy scale by Robbins and the Collet-Lester fear of death scale. Findings: The total score obtained on the death self-efficacy scale was 74.43/110, which is considered moderate to high self-efficacy for facing death. Facing the death of a friend at a young age obtained the lowest score (3.85 +/- 2.809). Regarding the Collet-Lester scale, the lowest score was 'fear of one's own death' (3.58 +/- 0.983) with a value of p=0.81. Conclusion: The health science students who participated in this study displayed high levels of fear and anxiety towards death.