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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1445587

Attachment styles and empathy in trainee nurses: The mediating and moderating roles of attitudes towards death

Provisionally accepted
Ting Wei Ting Wei 1Meiyi Guo Meiyi Guo 1Huanle Jin Huanle Jin 1Bingren Zhang Bingren Zhang 2*
  • 1 Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 2 Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Aim: To explore the precise role of death attitudes in the relationship between attachment styles and empathy levels among trainee nurses. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted.: A total of 626 Chinese trainee nurses of different attachment types were enrolled, and their attachment styles, death attitudes, and empathy levels were assessed using the Revised Adult Attachment Scale, the Death Attitude Profile-Revised, and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Healthy Professionals, and finally data from 566 participants were included for statistical analysis. Results: We found that in trainee nurses with Secure attachment type, Fear of Death, Approach Acceptance, Escape acceptance, and Neutral Acceptance (-) mediated the relationships between attachment-related Avoidance/Anxiety and their overall empathy levels and all its dimensions; while in the Preoccupied type, only Neutral Acceptance (-) mediated the relationships between attachment-related Avoidance and their overall empathy levels as well as Compassionate care; and in the Fearful type, only Fear of death mediated the relationship between attachment-related Avoidance and Compassionate care. Furthermore, in the Secure type, Neutral acceptance attenuated the negative predictions of attachment-related Avoidance on overall empathy level and Perspective taking. Conclusion: Attitudes towards death played different mediating and moderating roles in the relationship between attachment styles and empathy among trainee nurses with different attachment types. Implications for the profession: In addition to acculturated empathy-specific training, targeted death education for trainee nurses with different attachment types is needed to prevent their compassion fatigue.

    Keywords: Attachment Style, Attitude toward death, Empathy, Mediating and moderating effects, Trainee nurse

    Received: 07 Jun 2024; Accepted: 11 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wei, Guo, Jin and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Bingren Zhang, Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.