Development and Formative Evaluation of a Death Education Program for Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults

Planning for end-of-life (EOL) care in advance can enhance one’s quality of life at EOL. Culturally sensitive educational programs are needed in Chinese populations to enlighten the public and encourage advance planning due to a culture of death-denying and avoidance. This study describes the team’s efforts to develop and formatively evaluate a death education program designed for community-dwelling Chinese older adults. The program was designed based on the Knowledge-Attitude-Behavior Model, as a 2-session 3-hour program spreading over two days with 1.5 hours for each day. The content paid attention to discussing the importance of making plans for EOL in Chinese culture and discussing how to have death-related conversations with the family and health care professionals. In 2020, semi-structured interviews were conducted by phone with 12 health care professionals and researchers, and four Chinese older adults in China to obtain their feedback on program content and delivery. The directed content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Although they confirmed multiple challenges in conducting death education in China, such as family avoidance even if an older adult initiates the death-related conversation, health care professionals not feeling comfortable with such discussions, etc., they also felt the urgency and importance of delivering death education among older adults and in society as a whole. Detailed suggestions were categorized into relationship building, program preparation (e.g., setting, materials), multiple ways of recruitment, target population, length, various formats of content delivery, content (e.g., pay attention to spiritual care), and general support from the public.

Existentialism and Death Education in Anime

As the 2020 global pandemic has demonstrated with new force, we continue to struggle with managing primal, existential fear, even during the ongoing struggle to understand and combat a deadly infectious disease. As this paper reveals, multimedia popular culture texts can provide us with tools, knowledge, and avenues to help us better express, empathize, and educate one another during trying times. In particular, this paper aims to form part of a larger discussion on how we can better face the task of looking at death during a moment of human history where doom may seem ubiquitous. Although it is not possible to separate ourselves from our dependence on information that links us as individuals to the outside world, we can engage with media that provides knowledge in a more palatable or entertaining way and in so doing, support the development of better coping skills for apprehension about an unknown tomorrow. This paper analyzes the 2018 Cells at Work! as an example of anime that is both educational and entertaining, and discusses its implications for terror management and the promotion of well-being.

The Necessity and Method of Death Education as a Liberal Arts Subject

The purpose of this essay is to create and promote a discourse on how to develop and operate convergence education within the liberal arts. Currently, the liberal arts curriculum is suffering from considerable difficulties caused by the logic of capital that has penetrated into universities. In such a crisis situation, death education can be an important motive for restoring the value of liberal arts. Students must one day face their own death. In the face of existential and ontological death, students are forced to ask the most valuable and meaningful questions in life, and these questions contain the classic essence of the liberal arts.Death has a very complex and multi-layered nature that can not be dealt with only by a single major subject. In order to fully and deeply deal with death, convergence education is needed. As death is a mirror that reflects life as a whole, it is necessary for us to review carefully the various and opposing views and positions on death together. Therefore, rather than having one professor in charge of death education, it is much more effective for many professors with different majors to participate in the lecture as possible. Seen in this light, a lecture on ‘Life and Death’ as an example of convergence education in the liberal arts is presented. By participating in free and open discussion about the problems of life and death without trying to provide only one right answer, students can gain a broader perspective on human beings and the world, as well as have an opportunity to reflect on their own lives and make independent decisions.

Are paramedic graduates effectively prepared for death? A scoping review

Paramedics often come across death because of the nature of their work. Attending an incident involving the death of a patient could affect a paramedic's mental health. A scoping literature review surrounding the readiness and education regarding death in the prehospital setting for paramedic students was carried out. Given the potential impact upon practitioner mental health, the review aimed to determine the quality and extent of new research regarding education in death for paramedics. Four themes arose from the review: inadequate preparation; methods of death education; improved confidence; and implications for more research.

Suicide Prevention: University Students’ Narratives on Their Reasons for Living and for Dying

Social isolation and loneliness are increasing in our contemporary western society and seem to correlate with suicide in adolescents and young adults. Social Workers are a potential resource to create such initiatives and projects that promote inclusion and cohesion within communities, a protective factor against suicide. Sixty-two Social Work BA students participated in a Death Education course based on education on suicide prevention. Participants carried out two activities. First, they were invited to complete two written semi-structured interviews on young people’s reasons for living and dying. Second, they were invited to design suicide prevention interventions targeted at their peers and adolescents. Data were analyzed qualitatively within the Thematic Analysis framework. As regards the first activity, four main themes were identified: (1) Internet and social media; (2) social isolation and loneliness; (3) the importance of proximal relationships; and, (4) the importance of networking between proximal relationships, educational institutions and mental health services. Whereas, as for suicide prevention interventions, three main ideas were identified: (1) suicide prevention through community and networking between services; (2) academic institutions: high schools and universities; and, (3) suicide prevention through new technologies. To conclude, Death Education as education on suicide prevention can offer young people a space in which to voice their and their peers’ reasons for living and dying and to reflect upon their contribution to suicide prevention as students and as future professionals.

Health Education as a Means of Addressing Death in the Elderly

Education for death is an emerging field of study in which health education research and proposals are increasingly being made with the aim of acquiring knowledge and skills to promote positive attitudes towards health and preparation for the end of life. The aim of this study is to find out what experience older people have had with death education and the importance they give to health education. A qualitative methodological design was selected using a semi-structured interview. The survey consisted of interviews with 28 participants from the city of Granada (Spain) aged 61 to 78. This qualitative-descriptive study is based on an analysis of older people’s experience of education and preparation for death throughout their lives. The results show that, in most cases, the only information received was in childhood and always from a religious perspective. Death and health are closely related, so working on death education helps to improve the quality of life of elderly people. Health education offers ways of coping with the end of life through the transmission of values and practices that make it possible to anticipate and resolve situations of instability or anxiety. Facing death naturally and as just another part of life will help to make healthy ageing possible, through educational proposals related to the integral health of elderly people.