Objective To systematically evaluate the application effect of death education in Chinese cancer patients. MethodsLiterature related to application effect of death education in cancer patients were retrieved from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine disc, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, VIP, and databases of PsycARTICLES, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, Medline, The Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO. After literature screening, data extraction and quality evaluation, the RevMan 5.4 software was used for Meta-analysis. ResultsA total of 14 literature was enrolled. The results of Meta-analysis revealed that death education could ameliorate patients′ view of life and death and sense of values. Compared with routine nursing, death education with intervention measures based on the meaning of life, with intervention forms of group intervention combined with individual intervention, or of group intervention, and with single intervention frequency, exhibited superior improvements for life quality in cancer patients(P＜0.05), whereas no statistically significant difference in the improvement for life quality was found between cancer patients with death education in continuous intervention for 2 to 4 weeks and with routine nursing (P＞0.05). ConclusionDeath education can effectively ameliorate the view of life and death and sense of values in cancer patients, and improve patients′ quality of life.

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