The mediating effects of death reflection on death literacy and death anxiety among Chinese nurses: a cross-sectional study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of death reflection on death literacy and death anxiety in clinical nurses. A sample of 2,882 nurses in China were selected by convenience sampling. A socio-demographic questionnaire, a death literacy scale, a death reflection scale, and a death anxiety scale were used to investigate. The results showed that death literacy was positively correlated with death reflection, but was negatively correlated with death anxiety. Furthermore, death literacy can influence death anxiety through the mediating effect of death reflection. We therefore suggest that relevant departments and institutions should seek optimal strategies to strengthen nurses' death literacy training and promote death reflection in order to improve their death anxiety.