[Death anxiety in nursing: experience in supporting of the death and field care].

Objective: The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between professional experience in palliative care, and the assistance area in which that palliative care occurs, and the degree of anxiety before the death in professional nursing. We also explored the relationships between demographic and work variables with death anxiety, replicating existing studies.

Method: Is a quantitative and descriptive and comparative study in 2009 in La Xarxa Sanitaria Santa Tecla in Tarragona. The study's sample population was nurses of different levels of assistance (n=105) who answered the selected means for the collection of socio-demographic variables and the measurement of the degree of death anxiety (Spanish version of CL-FODS).

Results: We found significant statistic difference on the points of scale anxiety in the presence of the death with the nurses belonging to several assistance areas. The care frequency to moribund people is shown definitely of fear levels to the proper death as well as the assiduity in which professionals talk about death in private surroundings.

Conclusions: The assistance area as scene of care moments to moribund people which theses professionals share, and the frequency of the fulfilment of theses cares constitute definite elements to their fear or anxiety to the death.