Exercises about death: facts, fiction, and values

Our concern in this paper is to examine exercises about death of the sort that are commonly used at the outset of death education courses and hospice training programs. We describe a variety of these exercises and report data from a representative sample of those which we have used in our own courses and workshops. Three issues are singled out for discussion: 1) compliance in the doing of these exercises; 2) content in the responses (especially as concerns timing or manner of death and focus of concern); and 3) interpretation of results (e.g., limitations of such exercises, shifts between expectations and desires, "realism," and alterations when additional considerations are introduced). Our conclusion is that we must be cautious in giving two much weight to the ostensible results of such exercises, either as regards personal significance or as research projects. Nevertheless, as we show, there is value in the process itself when seen in the light of a proper understanding of the goals of a death-related educational or training program.