Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Nicole Nemeth for completing her McNair Summer Research Internship! She worked with mentor Dr. Donna Bachand, RN on her summer 2024 research, “The Influence of Work Experience, Cultural Background, and Belief Systems on Death Attitudes in Registered Nurses”. Nicole’s research was presented August 15, 2024 at the McNair Summer Research Symposium.
Of her research, Nicole explains:
Attitudes towards death are influenced by a myriad of factors, such as exposure to death and the dying. Healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, often find themselves at the forefront of end-of-life care. Nurses, regardless of their specialty, hold unique attitudes towards death that impact their approach to care. These attitudes are comprised of positive and negative perceptions, shaped by various factors including work experience and exposure to death or dying patients. However, in assessing attitudes towards death, the influences from factors such as religion, spirituality, and cultural upbringing remain underexplored in existing literature, particularly in the United States. To address the current gap in research, this study recruited 186 nurses licensed in Washington state, who took part in an online survey conducted from May to July 2024. The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of The Dying (FATCOD) scale was employed to assess the participants’ attitudes towards death, along with a series of open-ended questions that were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The results of the study indicated no significant correlation between years of work experience or personal beliefs (spirituality, religiosity) and FATCOD scores. Contrarily, a strong relationship was found between the nurses’ specialties and their FATCOD scores. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses revealed three main themes: Personal Beliefs, Professional Imperative, and Cultural Values. Overall, in this study, nurses scored highly on the FATCOD scale, reflecting positive attitudes toward death.
Nicole Nemeth is a first-generation sophomore at Eastern Washington University, pursuing a major in nursing and a minor in psychology. She was accepted as a McNair Scholar in winter of 2023 and is working towards a specialization in nurse anesthesia. Outside of her academic pursuits, Nicole finds joy in drawing and writing, and would like to publish her own books in the future.
