Los juegos experimentales de aula: una herramienta didáctica en cuidados paliativos = Experimental classroom games: a didactic tool in palliative care

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of a games-based intervention on palliative care nursing students’ scores on the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale. The challenge was to innovate and integrate grief-related theory and experiences into the classroom. Method: Quasi-experimental study. Before and after the games-based intervention, 101 and 111 students completed the questionnaires, respectively. The intervention was performed in the context of a palliative care class taught during the first semester of the third year of the nursing programme. Results: The students obtained moderate mean scores on the variable fear of death (between 14 and 19) at both time points (pre- and post-intervention). Both men and women indicated a heightened sense of fear post-intervention and a decrease in self-perceived emotional preparedness, which support the value of the games for exposing the student to situations that closely approximated reality. Conclusion: The use of games as a didactic tool in the classroom context helped the students recognize the fear generated by proximity to death in the patient and family and in the student him- or herself.