Perceived personal competence and death anxiety in nursing students

The objective of this study was to analyze the role of perceived personal competence on death anxiety in 146 undergraduate nursing students with an average age of 21.8 years (SD = 5.6). Students filled out the Perceived Personal Competence scale (Wallston, 1992) and the Death Anxiety Inventory (Tomás-Sabádo & Gómez-Benito, 2005). The main results show significant differences in death anxiety in relation to age, sex and levels of perceived competence: women and younger students have higher levels of death anxiety and students higher in perceived personal competence report lower levels of death anxiety. It is stressed the importance of building personal competence by means of specific training on death, palliative care and specific nursing practices; in order to reduce the negative impact that death anxiety can have on the future practice of nurses who have to deal with pain, suffering and death.