Death and dying is an ultimate process that every human being must experience. However, in these days we do not like to think or discuss about death and dying. Actually, hatred and denial is the usual feeling when we encounter death and dying. Dying is more than a biological occurrence. It is a human, social, and spiritual event, but the spiritual dimension of patients is too often neglected. Whether death is viewed as a "wall" or as a "door" can have significantly important consequences for how we live our lives. Near death experience is one of the excellent evidences to prove that there should be spiritual component being separated from the human physical body when we experience death. People have called it soul, spirit, or nonlocal consciousness. Caregivers need to recognize and acknowledge the spiritual component of patient care. Learning about death and dying helps us encounter death in ways that are meaningful for our own lives. Among the several learning tools, utilizing cinema with its audio and visual components can be one of the most powerful learning tools in death education.
*Attitude to Death ; Caregivers/education/psychology ; Health Personnel/*education/psychology ; Humans ; Psychodrama

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates lay beliefs about the etiology and treatments of tic disorder and Tourette's syndrome, as well as identifying sociodemographic and personality variables affecting these beliefs among South Koreans. METHODS: In total, 673 participants (mean age 41.77±12.03 years) completed an online survey regarding their beliefs about tic disorder and Tourette's syndrome. The factors related to their lay beliefs about the disorders were analyzed, and the correlates were investigated. RESULTS: Results indicated that lay people in South Korea held strong beliefs that the causes of tic disorder and Tourette's syndrome lie within the parenting/psychological and neurological/biological categories, compared to the dietary/environmental one. Among the sociodemographic variables, sex, age, and levels of subjective mental health knowledge were primarily associated with the aforementioned beliefs. Familiarity with tic disorder and Tourette's syndrome was also associated with these beliefs. Among the personality traits investigated, extraversion and conscientiousness had significant influences on the beliefs people had about tic disorder and Tourette's syndrome. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that both policy makers and mental health service providers should adopt a strategic approach for developing and implementing health education interventions about tic disorder and Tourette's syndrome because individual sociodemographic variables, familiarity with the disorders, and personality traits are all associated with the beliefs about these disorders.
Administrative Personnel ; Extraversion (Psychology) ; Health Education ; Humans ; Korea ; Mental Health ; Mental Health Services ; Recognition (Psychology) ; Tic Disorders ; Tics ; Tourette Syndrome

PURPOSE: To examine how pediatricians in private practices are affected by the process of training medical students in their clinics as part of a community-based clerkship program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 2007, a questionnaire was sent to 35 pediatricians who had provided private clinical settings for clerkship training for the previous 3 years. The questionnaire covered a number of points, including the pediatricians' motivation to join and/or reasons to quit the program; if there were changes seen in their stress levels while supervising students; changes in their treatment procedures or attitudes because of the students' presence; responses of patients and/or their guardians in regard to have medical students treating them, and whether the doctors were inspired to grow professionally by participating in the program. RESULTS: Of the 35 pediatricians, 31 (88.5%) responded. Eighteen respondents (58%) selected 'responsibility to cooperate with medical school' as a reason to participate. Fifteen physicians (48.3%) answered that the clerkship program had a positive impact on their treatment procedures and their attitude towards patients. CONCLUSION: Based on the pediatricians' responses, the community-based clerkship program may instill intellectual inspiration and promote professional growth among the pediatricians in private practices, resulting in potentially better treatment for patients.
Attitude of Health Personnel ; *Clinical Clerkship ; Humans ; Motivation ; Pediatrics/*education ; Physicians/*psychology ; *Teaching

The General Medical Council encourages the integration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) teaching into basic medical education. We wished to explore the attitudes of medical students to CAM and its inclusion in their undergraduate curriculum. Medical students were invited to complete the validated Integrative Medicine Attitude Questionnaire (IMAQ) and to state whether they considered it appropriate for them to learn about CAM in medical school. The questionnaire was completed by 308 students (65.8% response rate). CAM had been received by a majority of respondents and their families. Participants believed that doctors with knowledge of CAM provide better patient care and that it is desirable for physicians to exploit the placebo effect. Most students expressed the view that doctors should be able to answer patients' questions about herbal medicines. There was a belief that patients should be warned to avoid using supplements which have not undergone rigorous testing. Students who were current or previous users of CAM or whose family members used CAM had higher total IMAQ scores and openness subscale scores than those who did not report use of CAM. Two-hundred and nine (68%) students expressed a desire to study CAM as part of their medical curriculum. This study reveals a positive attitude towards a holistic approach to patient care which embraces CAM. Medical students believe that integrative medicine should be taught in medical school.
Attitude of Health Personnel ; Complementary Therapies ; education ; Female ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; education ; Male ; Students, Medical ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Teaching

INTRODUCTIONThe Rural Interprofessional Programme Emergency Retreat (RIPPER) is an educational programme collaboratively developed and evaluated by an interprofessional team from Schools within Faculty of Health Science (FHS), University of Tasmania (UTAS), Australia. The aims of RIPPER are to foster and facilitate positive and productive interprofessional learning experiences for undergraduate students in a rural setting; and to develop a firmly embedded and sustainable interprofessional healthcare module within the health science curriculum. This paper reports on the development of a reliable and valid survey tool to evaluate students' understandings and experiences of this interprofessional learning programme.

MATERIALS AND METHODSTwenty-nine students from the Schools of Nursing, Medicine and Pharmacy of the FHS, UTAS participated in the RIPPER programme which offers a number of interactive rural emergency healthcare scenarios using high- and low-fidelity simulation. To evaluate the programme a survey which consisted of 2 main components was developed and implemented before and after the programme. The first component was designed to gather students' demographic information, their understanding of the interprofessional practice concepts, and their expectations of the RIPPER programme using open-ended questions. The second component consisted of a 5-point Likert scale for students to rank their level of agreement pre- and post- intervention with 12 statements about team working, programme evaluation and collaborative learning. Three processes were used to establish the validity and reliability of the survey. Content validity was assessed by academics and experts in health science education. Construct validity was assessed using exploratory factor analysis. The internal consistency and reliability of the survey was checked using Cronbach's alpha coefficient.

RESULTSFactor analysis of the 12 statements identified 3 main factors including appreciation of professional roles and responsibilities, improved professional practice based on effective teamwork and the importance of students learning and working together for improved clinical practice. Reliability of the survey was established. The survey is able to evaluate students' understandings and experiences of this interprofessional learning programme.

Australia ; Female ; Health Occupations ; education ; Health Personnel ; education ; Humans ; Interprofessional Relations ; Male ; Rural Health Services ; Rural Population ; Students, Health Occupations ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Environmental Pollution ; prevention & control ; Health Education ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Iatrogenic Disease ; prevention & control ; Medical Laboratory Personnel ; psychology

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of assertiveness training on nurses' assertive behaviors, interpersonal relations, communication conflicts, conflict management style and personnel turnover rate. METHOD: A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used in this study. Nurses were assigned into the experimental or control groups, each consisting of 39 nurses. Data was collected between January to March 2004. An 'Assertiveness Training Program' for Nurses developed by Park was used for the study. To emphasize assertiveness practice, 5 practice sessions utilizing ABCDE principles were added to Park's program. To examine the effects of the program, differences between the two groups in assertive behaviors, interpersonal relations, communication conflicts, conflict management style and personnel turnover rate were analyzed using ANCOVA. RESULTS: The assertiveness training was effective in improving the nurses' assertiveness behaviors, but was not effective in improving interpersonal relations, reducing the subjects' communication conflicts, changing the conflict management style or reducing their personnel turnover rate. CONCLUSION: There have been many studies about factors affecting nurses' personnel turnover rates, but few have been done about methods of intervention to reduce the personnel turnover rate. Thus, this study provides a significant contribution in attempting such an intervention from nursing management perspectives.
*Assertiveness ; *Attitude of Health Personnel ; Communication ; Conflict (Psychology) ; Female ; Humans ; Inservice Training/methods ; Interpersonal Relations ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/education/*psychology ; *Personnel Turnover ; Program Evaluation

OBJECTIVESThe physicians knowledge and attitude to erectile dysfunction (ED) is very important to the diagnosis and management of this disease. We investigated the physicians and practitioners knowledge of ED, attitude to ED, and if they actively find the underlying ED patients.

METHODSThree hundreds and one physicians and practitioners in Beijing completed a questionnaire. The subjects included urologists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, surgeons, orthopaedicians and community practitioners.

RESULTSThe definition of ED was well known by most subjects (83.4%). Many agreed that ED was a common condition in the aging men (85.0%), and it was an important health problem (78.7%) and it was the local signs of certain systemic diseases (89.7%). The most common risk factors of ED enumerated by the physicians were diabetes (45.5%), hypertension (12.6%) and coronary artery diseases (12.0%). 45.5% physicians met the patients who initiated questions about ED. 32.6% physicians would discuss ED with the patients if the patients initiate questions about ED. 95.0% non-urological physicians would refer the ED patients to urologists or andrologists. 43.5% of all the physicians never asked their patients about erectile function, this proportions in the subgroups of urologists, non-urological physicians and community practitioners were 7.2%, 55.3% and 60.5% respectively (P < 0.01). The most common reasons for the physicians not to initiate the inquiries about ED was "the patients would not have ED if they didnt complain about it" (42.2%), "there was no ED patients in my specialty" (20.9%), "diagnosis and treatment of ED was not my business" (17.3%), "have no time" (15.6%), "feel embarrassed" (13.6%).

CONCLUSIONSMost physicians regarded ED as an important health problem and a common condition in aging men, but they didnt take an active attitude to ED in their clinical practice.

Aging ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; China ; epidemiology ; Education, Medical ; Erectile Dysfunction ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Knowledge ; Male ; Physicians ; psychology ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVE: To explore the attitudes of medical students toward psychiatry. METHODS: A total of 254 fourth-year medical students were investigated with a 29-item questionnaire. RESULTS: Although in general, medical school students showed a positive attitude towards psychiatry, opinions about certain aspects like the reputation of psychiatry and the attitude toward psychiatric therapy were not positive. CONCLUSION There are still some misunderstandings for psychiatry among medical school students, some of which are based on false beliefs that should be actively targeted for remediation.
Attitude of Health Personnel ; Career Choice ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Psychiatry ; education ; Specialization ; Students, Medical ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: Adolescence is viewed as a critical period in the formation of health behavior and many health behaviors developed during this era persist into adulthood. Social-cognitive theory, self-efficacy as a central construct, has been used to predict and intervene the health behavioral patterns in adolescent. Previous research demonstrated that the attachment in childhood and self-esteem as psychosocial factors are predictors of the health efficacy in adolescent and it is viewed as solely an antecedent for the lifelong health behavior. METHOD: To investigate the path pattern of attachment in childhood, self-esteem and health efficacy in adolescents, 381 adolescents in high school from two urban cities in Korea were recruited for cross-sectional sample. Attachment in childhood was measured using Mother-Father-Peer Scale. Self esteem was measured with Hare self esteem. Perceived self efficacy in Health was measured by the School Health Efficacy Questionnaire. The path analysis revealed a significant relationship between attachment in childhood and self-esteem, self-esteem and health efficacy in adolescents. Self esteem was the strongest contributing factor for health efficacy in adolescent. The results suggest that attachment in childhood may aid in formulating positive self -esteem in adolescents and self-esteem played a major role in predicting health efficacy in adolescents. CONCLUSION: Therefore, self-esteem enrichment should be incorporated with adolescent health promotion and certainly should be a component in any health education program in school health program and interventions. These results have implications of psychosocial and family related factors on health promotion and health education for the health care provider with regard to primary and secondary prevention in adolescent population.
Adolescent* ; Critical Period (Psychology) ; Hares ; Health Behavior ; Health Education ; Health Personnel ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Korea ; Psychology ; School Health Services ; Secondary Prevention ; Self Concept* ; Self Efficacy ; Child Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires