Changes in students' attitudes following a course on death and dying: a controlled comparison

This study evaluated the effect of a death-education course on the death-related anxiety and attitudes toward death of 71 medical students not yet exposed to clinical rotations and four health care professionals. The Collect-Lester Fear of Death Scale and a semantic differential technique measuring attitudes toward the dying patient and his or her family were administered to course attendees before and after the course and to freshman students not taking the course. The 75 course attendees and the 93 controls completed the baseline measures, and 71 course attendees and 46 controls responded to the post-course evaluation. The course did not produce significant changes on the four Collett-Lester subscales, although there was an overall decline in anxiety when the two groups were combined (p = 0.035). Semantic differential scales showed no change for controls but a marked improvement in attitudes toward "treating the dying patient" and "dealing with the dying patient's family" for attendees (p < 0.001 for both). In summary, course participation resulted in improvement in students' attitudes toward dealing with death.