Death anxiety and spiritual care needs of intensive care patients

This study was conducted to investigate the death anxiety and spiritual care needs of patients treated in intensive care. The universe of the study consisted of individuals receiving treatment in the Anesthesia and Reanimation intensive care unit of Gaziantep University Şahinbey Research and Training Hospital. Descriptive Characteristics Form, Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) and Spiritual Care Needs Inventory (SCNI) forms were used to collect data. Data were collected by face-to-face interview technique. Data were evaluated using Independent Student t-test, Oneway ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. 52.2% of the patients were male and the mean age was 47.7±13.8 years. The mean DAS score of the patients was found to be 39.6±24.7 and the mean DAS score was found to be 92.3±12.3. The "uncertainty of death" factor sub-dimension of DAS was 21.4±12.4; The "suffering" factor sub-dimension was found to be 6.0±4.1. The "meaning and hope" sub-dimension of the SCNI was found to be 55.9±8.6 points, and the "caring and respect" sub-dimension was found to be 36.4±4.5. A positive (linear) moderate relationship was found between the patients' SCNI total scale score and the 'SCNI', "meaning and hope" and "caring and respect" scale scores (r=0.351; r=0.318; r=0.347, respectively). As a result of the multiple linear regression analysis performed to examine the predictive status of the patients' SCNI total scale score, it was found that the model was statistically significant at a 95% confidence level (F=6.539; p<0.01). Accordingly, it was found that gender and SCNI total scale score had a positive effect on the SCNI scale score (p=0.048; p=0.003, respectively). In addition, it was determined that the effect of the independent variables in the model on the dependent variable was R2=0.186. According to the research results, it was determined that the patients' death anxiety was at a moderate level and their spiritual care needs were high. In this direction, it is important for psychiatric nurses, especially those working with intensive care patients, to plan interventions to reduce the patients' death anxiety and meet their spiritual care needs. Keywords: Intensive care; Death anxiety; Spiritual care needs; Psychiatric nursing