Proceedings of the 2015 Asian American/Pacific Islander Nurses Association Conference: Biological Measures: A Role in Nursing Self- Management Research

6 End of Life Teaching Strategy to Improve Student’s Attitudes Toward the Dying Patient Tricia K. Gatlin, PhD, RN, CNE University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA Purpose: End of life (EOL) care is an important aspect of nursing when comfort and quality of life are the patient’s goals. The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) developed a comprehensive program of teaching care of the dying to nurses and nursing students. Method: This pretest–posttest study evaluated the influence of the integration of an EOL teaching strategy based on the ELNEC curriculum in a baccalaureate nursing program on students’ attitudes toward care of the dying. The Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) for nurses was administered to senior nursing students (n = 44) before and after exposure to a daylong EOL teaching strategy. A pairedsamples t test was conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention on students’ scores on the FATCOD. Results: There was a statistically significant increase in FATCOD scores from Time 1 (M = 118.74, SD = 8.71) to Time 2 (M = 129.60, SD = 9.44), t(43) = 8.73, p < .0005 (two-tailed). The mean increase in FATCOD scores was 10.86 with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 8.35 to 13.36. The  statistic (.63) indicated a large effect size. Analysis conducted between Time 1 and Time 2 on males and females and different ethnic groups showed statistically significant data as well. 5 Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal, Vol. 1, Iss. 2 [2016], Art. 5 https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/apin/vol1/iss2/5 DOI: 10.9741/23736658.1017 Conclusion: Higher mean scores on the FATCOD were noted both preand post-test among Asian/Pacific Islander students when compared with other ethnic groups. The findings suggest that integrating EOL teaching strategies based on the ELNEC curriculum positively affects the attitudes of nursing students toward the care of patients who are dying.