Exploring the relationship between death anxiety and empathy among nursing students at an early stage of their clinical internships

Table 1 The influence of demographic factors on empathy (n = 473), n (%)/mean ± SD

Variable	n (%)	Empathy scores	t/F value	P value
Gender
Male	16 (3.4)	66.94 ± 13.95	1.119	0.264
Female	457 (96.6)	63.67 ± 11.40
Major
Nursing	335 (70.8)	64.73 ± 11.59	2.817	0.005
Midwifery	138 (29.2)	61.48 ± 10.94
Religion
No	303 (64.1)	63.82 ± 11.43	0.088	0.930
Yes	170 (35.9)	63.72 ± 11.62
Being an only child
Yes	40 (8.5)	65.23 ± 12.35	0.831	0.406
No	433 (91.5)	63.65 ± 11.41
Family economic status
Very good	8 (1.7)	64.63 ± 12.59	0.234	0.919
Good	10 (2.1)	65.30 ± 12.48
Moderate	348 (73.6)	63.97 ± 11.57
Bad	81 (17.1)	63.15 ± 11.12
Very bad	26 (5.5)	62.38 ± 11.51
Parents' health status
Very bad	9 (1.9)	60.00 ± 10.94	0.554	0.696
Bad	21 (4.4)	63.24 ± 10.71
Moderate	186 (39.3)	63.20 ± 11.04
Good	197 (41.6)	64.30 ± 11.82
Very good	60 (12.7)	64.62 ± 12.23
Knowledge of death education
Have no idea	155 (32.8)	64.11 ± 12.10	0.972	0.379
Know a bit	304 (64.3)	63.80 ± 11.07
Know well	14 (3.0)	59.64 ± 13.57
Have a death education course before
Yes	74 (15.6)	62.64 ± 11.05	-0.933	0.351
No	399 (84.4)	63.99 ± 11.57

Table 2 Correlation analysis between empathy and death anxiety

	The total of empathy scores	Attitude choice	Empathic care	Being in patients’ shoes
The total of death anxiety scores	-0.060	-0.008	-0.091a	-0.056
Cognitive-affective	-0.026	0.028	-0.083	-0.017
Pain and illness	-0.159b	-0.112a	-0.138b	-0.128b
Awareness of time passing	0.049	0.098a	0.001	-0.025
Stimuli related to death	0.012	-0.002	0.011	0.030

^aP < 0.05.

^bP < 0.01.

Table 3 Multiple linear regression analysis on empathy of vocational nursing students

Factors	β	SE	β'	t value	P value	R2
Constant	71.209	4.021		17.711	< 0.001	0.053
Pain and illness	-1.424	0.347	-0.299	-4.106	< 0.001
Major	-3.265	1.138	-0.129	-2.869	0.004
The total of death anxiety scores	0.338	0.133	0.185	2.536	0.012

Table 4 Cross-major differences in empathy and death anxiety among students, mean ± SD

Factors	Nursing	Midwifery	t value	P value
The total of empathy scores	64.73 ± 11.59	61.48 ± 10.94	2.817	0.005
Attitude choice	31.99 ± 6.61	30.20 ± 5.99	2.877	0.004
Empathic care	27.04 ± 5.09	26.12 ± 5.12	1.784	0.075
Being in patients’ shoes	5.70 ± 3.19	5.17 ± 2.88	1.770	0.078
The total of death anxiety scores	46.02 ± 6.42	47.06 ± 5.94	-1.627	0.104
Cognitive-affective	17.86 ± 3.11	18.62 ± 3.19	-2.397	0.017
Pain and illness	13.19 ± 2.46	13.42 ± 2.30	-0.963	0.336
Awareness of time passing	5.62 ± 1.40	5.49 ± 1.42	0.903	0.367
Stimuli related to death	9.36 ± 1.54	9.52 ± 1.60	-1.055	0.292