Investigation of the quality of life and death attitudes of the patients registered to the emergency

This research was carried out to examine the quality of life and attitudes towards death of patients who applied to the emergency room. The research in descriptive and correlational design was carried out with 437 patients applying to the emergency room of Göztepe Prof. Dr. Süleyman Yalçın City Hospital between October 2021 and May 2022. The data of the study were collected through the Personal Information Form, Death Attitudes Profile- Revised (DAP-R) and the Short Form-36 Quality of Life Scale. In the study, continuous variables were shown as mean±standard deviation (X±SD), and categorical variables were shown as frequency (n) and percentage (%). T-test, one-way analysis of variance (Anova) and post hoc (Tukey, LSD) analyzes were used to analyze the differences in scale levels according to the characteristics of the patients. The relationships between the dimensions determining the patients' quality of life and attitudes towards death were examined by correlation analysis. The mean age of the patients was 34.730±14,609, and the mean score of the quality of life data criteria, respectively physical functioning 79.565±25.001; role limitations due to physical problems 61.442±39.934; bodily pain 56,645±21,116; general health perception 56.284±20.552; vitality 51.682±21.194; social functionality, role limitations due to emotional problems 54.386±42,766; mental health is 58,407±17,854. The mean score of the patients' Death Attitudes Profile was 4.166±0.783. The mean fear of death score, which is one of the sub-dimensions of this scale, was 3.554±1.334, escape acceptance 3.516±1.292; neutral acceptance 4.901±1.002; approach acceptance 4,571±1,354; escape from death was found to be 3.926±1.396. It was determined that there was a negative, weak and significant relationship between the SF-36 Quality of Life Scale sub-dimension mean scores and the total and sub-dimension mean scores of the Death Attitudes Profile (p<0,05). It was determined that the fear of death decreased with the increase in the quality of life of the patients. At the same time, there is a decrease in the quality of life of patients with increasing age.