Effects of the Heal-Dying Program on Meaning of Life, Death Anxiety, and Life Satisfaction in Nursing Students

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the Heal-Dying Program on nursing students perceptions of the meaning of life, anxiety regarding death, and life satisfaction.The study design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The subjects were 70 students (experimental group = 35, control group = 35) from a nursing college in South Korea. This five-week program involved taking photos of the deceased, lectures on death and dying, preparation and reading of wills, experiencing lying in the casket, and watching a life documentary. The students in the experimental group showed increased level of meaning of life, and life satisfaction, and decreased level of death anxiety when compared to the control group. This study confirmed that the Heal-Dying program is an effective intervention strategy to facilitate an understanding of the meaning of life and reduce death-related anxiety among nursing students.