Death Anxiety and Willingness to Work in Geriatric Care: The Role of Contact with Older Adults

This study sought to examine the moderating role of contact with older adults in the relationship between medical and nursing students’ death anxiety and their willingness to work in geriatric care. A total of 385 Chinese freshman and sophomore medical and nursing students were included in this cross-sectional study. Logistic regression results showed that death anxiety was negatively related to students’ willingness to work in geriatric care. The negative association between death anxiety and willingness was moderated by contact with general older adults such that students having frequent contact with general older adults were more willing to work in geriatric care even with a high level of death anxiety. However, contact with grandparents did not have a significant moderation effect. Interventions to reduce the negative impact of death anxiety on students’ willingness to serve older adults should consider increasing medical and nursing students’ contact quality and frequency with older adults.