| Author: | Cheung, Wai Ting Rita |
| Title: | Study of personal experience and anxiety toward death in social work students in Hong Kong |
| Advisors: | Lai, W. L. Daniel (APSS) |
| Degree: | DSW |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Subject: | Death -- Attitudes Fear of death Social work education Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Applied Social Sciences |
| Pages: | 197 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Background: Death is an inevitable topic in people's life, while on the other hand, a mystery and difficult discussion subject. This long-lasting taboo was given less attention in social work education when compared with other health care professions. No independent core subject concerning the topics of death and dying have been included in undergraduate social work programs almost all universities in Hong Kong. Objectives: This study aims to examine the personal experiences of exposure to death, including knowledge of death without direct observation, observance of the threat of death to others, actual observation of death, and personal experiences associated with death, and their association with death anxiety among social work students in Hong Kong. Methods: Three hundred twenty-four social work students in Hong Kong recruited through a purposive sampling method took part in this study using an online survey as the data collection method. The level of death anxiety was measured by the Chinese Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (CL-TDAS). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the scale when used with social work students in Hong Kong. Then, various forms of personal exposure to death including knowledge of death without direct observation, observance of the threat to others, actual observation of death, and personal experiences associated with death were investigated. Thirdly, hierarchical regression analysis as conducted to examine the relationships between various types of exposure to death and level of death anxiety. Results: After repeating a few confirmatory factor analysis model testing, a 9-item with three latent variables including (1) Concern for somatic changes, (2) Consciousness about the passing of time, and (3) Concern for pain and tension accompanying death have confirmed as dependent factors of the scale with the acceptable model fit (CFI=.955, TLI=.920, NFI=.903). Moreover, a total mean death anxiety score of 47.63 (SD=8.50) was reported by the participants. Statistically significant differences were reported in males (M = 45.79) and females (M = 48.51; t (316) = -2.70, p <.01), and statistically significant difference at the p < .05 level in terms of the death anxiety scores for the eight age groups: F (7, 306) = 2.11, p = .04. Moreover, results showed there was a statistically significant correlation between overall learning experience score (r = -.14, p <.005) and didactic score (r = -.13, p <.005) in terms of the Factor - Concern for somatic changes. Sixty-five percent of the participants reported the didactic learning method as helpful for reducing death anxiety. Also, level of perceived helpfulness in some of the experiential learning items were found to be correlated with the level of death anxiety. Furthermore, it was found that the other two domains of exposure to death, Observance of the threat of death to others and actual observation of death showed significant correlations with the overall death anxiety score and the three factor domains of the death anxiety. Implications: The study focused on investigating the death attitudes of social work students in Hong Kong. The model fit testing with the newly validated CL-TDAS 9-item measurement tool for measuring death anxiety level of Hong Kong Chinese social work students reported a satisfactory result. It is suggested to further refining the 9-item CL-TDAS through validation research and evaluating the construct validity using different types of death anxiety or death attitudes scales, could prove a promising and high validity measurement tool for exploring the younger Chinese community. Among the various strategies of learning about death and dying, participants perceived the didactic method as the most helpful for reducing death anxiety and increasing confidence to deal with death and dying issue. In regard to this, experimental research is suggested to further explore the effectiveness of various kinds of learning methods for reducing death anxiety among social workers. It is suggested death and dying education should be included in the social work curriculum as the foundation. The design of the death and dying topic in the social work curriculum should not only focus on knowledge and skills, but also on how to develop students' emotional competence for dealing with death and dying issues. In the policy level, Government is suggested to make good use of social media to promote normalization of personal emotions toward death and dying and encouraging self-expression and disclosing personal emotions should be promoted. In spite of that, the level of psychological readiness and preparation of the students should not be undermined. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6365.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 2.72 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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