Constructs and coping: physicians' responses to patient death

This paper explores the relationship between physicians' personal orientations toward death and their responses to patient death. A group of 25 pediatric residents were asked to complete the Threat Index and to respond to vignettes depicting personal death. Consistent with predictions derived from personal construct theory, particular death orientations were associated with various behavioral and psychophysiological reactions. Residents with high death threat and anxiety were more likely to adopt avoidance and denial strategies and to experience fewer psychophysiological symptoms when faced with a patient's death. Implications of these findings for further research and treatment are discussed.