ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06991621SPGIUpdated May 28, 2025

The Effect of Situation Puzzle Games on Nursing Students' Death Anxiety and Meaning in Life

An interventional study of Puzzle game and Manual Education in Death Anxiety, sponsored by China Medical University, China. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Months and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-05-28.

Sponsored by China Medical University, China · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Aug 2025, 1 year 3 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Started Apr 2025; still recruiting 1 year 6 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
70
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Months and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Goal of this interventional study

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of a scenario-based puzzle educational game on death anxiety and meaning in life among nursing students. It aims to answer the following key questions:

Can the scenario-based puzzle educational game enhance nursing students' sense of meaning in life?

Can the scenario-based puzzle educational game reduce death anxiety in nursing students?

What are nursing students' experiences and perceptions of this educational game?

Study design Researchers will compare the intervention group (participating in the game) with a control group (receiving death education manuals) to evaluate the effectiveness of the game-based intervention.

Participants will:

Be recruited through campus posters

Be randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group and complete baseline questionnaires

In the control group: Receive death education manuals twice weekly for 3 weeks

In the intervention group: Participate in group sessions (5 students per group) to play the scenario-based puzzle game twice weekly for 3 weeks

Complete follow-up questionnaires and participate in qualitative interviews regarding their experiences with manual-based education or the game intervention after the 3-week intervention period

02

Conditions studied

  • Death Anxiety

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03

In context

Necrophobia

26 studies on the registry are indexed under Necrophobia; 11 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 70 is close to the median of 70 across 22 interventional studies indexed under Necrophobia.

Browse Necrophobia studies →

Lead sponsor

China Medical University, China is the lead sponsor of 94 studies on the registry; 34 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Months and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Third-year full-time undergraduate nursing students
  • Completed clinical observation training but not yet entered clinical internship phase
  • Aged ≥18 years
  • Provide and voluntarily participate in the study

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participated in similar death education interventions within the past 3 months
  • Diagnosed with severe mental or psychological disorders
  • Currently on a leave of absence (academic or personal)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
70 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Gamified Education

    Scenario-based puzzle game in group sessions

    Other: Puzzle game

  • Active comparator
    Manual Education

    Standardized death education manual

    Other: Manual Education

Interventions

  • OtherPuzzle game

    Scenario-based puzzle game sessions (group format)

  • OtherManual Education

    Standardized death education manual distribution

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Death Anxiety

    A 15-item self-report scale developed by psychologist Templer (1967/1970) measuring death-related distress. Dimensions: Affective (Items 1,3,10,13,14), Stress/Pain (Items 4,5,6,9,11), Time Awareness (Items 8,12), Cognitive (Items 2,7,15) Scoring: Dichotomous (Yes/No) with 9 forward-scored and 6 reverse-scored items (Items 2,3,5,6,7,16\*). Total score range: 0-15 (higher = greater anxiety). Reliability: Test-retest reliability (3-week) = 0.83; KR-20 = 0.76 (original English version).

    Time frame: Week 0, Week 3

  2. Meaning in Life

    A 10-item scale (Steger et al.) assessing two dimensions: Presence of Meaning (5 items): Perceived life purpose Search for Meaning (5 items): Active pursuit of meaning Scoring: 7-point Likert (1="Strongly Disagree" to 7="Strongly Agree"). Higher scores indicate stronger meaning. Reliability: Cronbach's α = 0.878 (total), 0.850 (Presence), 0.907 (Search)

    Time frame: Week 0, Week 3

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Apr 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Aug 2025, 3 months after the start.

Of 16 interventional studies with no phase under Necrophobia, half reached primary completion within 8 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 13. This study's planned 3 months is below that.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
May 13, 2025
First posted
May 28, 2025
StartActual
Apr 21, 2025
Primary completionEst.
Aug 1, 2025
CompletionEst.
Aug 21, 2025
Last update
May 28, 2025
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 28, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06991621
Lead sponsor
China Medical University, China
Responsible party
Wenna Qian (Doctoral Researcher, School of Nursing, China Medical University, China Medical University, China) — Principal investigator
First posted
May 28, 2025
Start date
Apr 21, 2025
Primary completion
Aug 1, 2025 (estimated)
Completion
Aug 21, 2025 (estimated)
Last update
May 28, 2025

Study contacts

Wenna Qian
Contact
wenna13314021865@163.com
13314021865

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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