Romulo Sousa Cruz Vaz, Camila Silva Aguiar*, Nadia Vieira da Silva Sousa
The purpose of this study was to infer the student’s knowledge about thanatology and its aspects. This is a descriptive study with a quantitative approach. Fifty-five students enrolled in a higher education institution in São Luis/MA participated in this study. The questionnaire was composed of 28 questions elaborated by the researcher against the proposed objectives. The results showed that (89.7%) of the studied population belonged to the female gender. It is found that (58.6%) do not know the meaning of the term thanatology. It was found that students view death as the cycle of life (58.6%), (70.7%) reported having witnessed this event. Some revealed feelings were impotence (46.3%) and sadness (44%). When instilled into the knowledge inherent in thanatology, it was found that (51.71%) of the students do not know how to conduct the preparation with the body, (81,03%) do not know the meaning of rigor mortis, (56,89%) do not know the 5 phases that the Patient or family member may present before this event. Faced with the demand we obtained (94.83%) of the students interviewed recognize which professional responsible for attesting death and (71.83%) inferred the nursing team performs the care with the body. Because of the results, it is believed that some difficulties of the students about the conception of the dying process are directly related to the absence of the approximation of the study of the thanatology in its graduations, needing to deepen the question.
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