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KMID : 1025620120150020206
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Korean Journal of Medical Ethics
2012 Volume.15 No. 2 p.206 ~ p.218
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The Effects of Medical Students’ Attitudes toward Death and Their Empathic Abilities on Suicidal Impulse Control
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Lee Su-Hyun
Choi Eun-Hye-Ra
Kim Sung-Soo
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Abstract
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The purpose of the study was 1) to examine the relationship between medical students’ attitudes toward death and their suicidal impulse control and 2) to investigate the effects of empathy on death attitudes and suicidal impulse control. A questionnaire was developed consisting of six death-attitude factors, a suicidal impulse control item, and two empathy related items. The questionnaire was administrated to medical students at one university in Pusan, South Korea. One hundred and six completed questionnaires were analyzed. The results show that the more often respondents think about death and consider death as liberation, the lower their ability is to control suicidal impulses. Respondents who avoided thinking about death or who thought the impact of their death on their family members would be high were more likely to have a higher level of control of suicidal impulses. The impact of their own death on family members was most strongly correlated with an attitude toward death as a natural part of life. Regarding the effects of empathy on suicidal impulse control, cognitive empathy had a stronger correlation with suicidal impulse control than affective empathy. The results of regression show that cognitive empathy has the strongest effect on suicidal impulse control compared to other significant
factors. The results of this study imply that the causes of suicide are not limited to the conventional psychological factors, such as depression. Understanding attitudes toward death and empathy could enhance society’s continuing efforts to reduce suicide among college students generally and medical students in particular.
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KEYWORD
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attitudes toward death, empathy, suicidal impulse control
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