DOI: 10.26466/opusjsr.1943545 ISSN: 2791-9781

The developmental arc of death perception in intensive care: A descriptive phenomenological study of first and most recent exitus experiences among nurses and physicians

Nurettin Öner
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The emotional impact of the first exitus, the transformation of death perception over time, and the role of personal bereavement in shaping professional empathy constitute a complex developmental process warranting systematic investigation. This study aimed to explore intensive care unit (ICU) nurses’ and physicians’ experiences of their first and most recent patient death encounters and to examine how personal loss influences death perception, empathy, and professional identity. A descriptive phenomenological design was employed. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 39 ICU professionals (20 nurses, 19 physicians) recruited through snowball sampling from a public hospital in Ankara, Turkey, between December 2025 and January 2026. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis, guided by Lazarus and Folkman’s Stress and Coping Theory and Park and Folkman’s Meaning-Making Model. Four main themes emerged: crisis of the therapeutic self, transformation of death perception through experience, personal loss as an empathic bridge, and integration of death into professional identity. All participants had experienced personal bereavement; loss type significantly shaped empathic transformation. ICU professionals traverse a spiral developmental arc from acute crisis to mature identity integration. Personal loss functions as a developmental catalyst. The findings call for grief-informed institutional support and systemic organizational responses

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