Differences in Nursing Students’ Perceptions of Death and Attitudes Toward End-of-Life Care According to DISC Behavior Patterns

This descriptive survey study aimed to examine nursing students’ perceptions of death and attitudes toward end-of-life care according to DISC behavioral patterns. The participants were 245 nursing students. Data were collected from April 7 to May 16, 2025. DISC behavioral types were assessed using a structured paper-based questionnaire with self-report multiple-choice items, which were scored and classified directly by the researcher. Perceptions of death and attitudes toward end-of-life care were measured using an online questionnaire administered via Google Forms. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 25.0. Differences in DISC behavioral types, general characteristics, perceptions of death, and attitudes toward end-of-life care were analyzed using t-tests and analysis of variance(ANOVA). Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationship between perceptions of death and attitudes toward end-of-life care. The results indicated that perceptions of death differed significantly according to religious affiliation, while age was a significant factor influencing attitudes toward end-of-life care. A positive correlation was found between perceptions of death and attitudes toward end-of-life care. Among DISC behavioral types, the Conscientious type(C-type) demonstrated the most positive perceptions of death and attitudes toward end-of-life care. These findings suggest that identifying nursing students’ positive perceptions of death and attitudes toward end-of-life care may help reduce death-related stress when they encounter death in diverse clinical settings and enable them to provide appropriate end-of-life care. This study is expected to serve as foundational data for the development of effective end-of-life care education in nursing programs.