Nursing students' perception of grief during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a large number of human losses, especially that of the elderly, leading the nursing student to face a reality in which death and the grieving process have led to readjust life in the face of loss.

Method: Qualitative-descriptive study, at the University of Tolima, Colombia within the framework of the nursing course for the elderly, during the month of March 2021, with the participation of 27 nursing students contacted during the remote meetings of the subject. With summative content analysis proposed by Hsieh and Shannon. During the study, the categories were discussed among the researchers, the care in the production of data and its subsequent analysis guaranteed rigor.

Results: Three categories were identified as follows: I. With the pandemic the death process was dehumanized, II. The pandemic is the fear of death. III. The pandemic transformed the way people cry.

Conclusion: From the perspective of the nursing students of the elderly, the pandemic increased the fear of dying, dehumanized the death process, and transformed the experience of grief.