A major concern for the pioneers in death education at the college level was the need to recognize those students who enrolled in the course in order to get help with death related issues, primarily suicidal thoughts and unresolved grief. Despite anecdotal evidence of these at-risk students, this concern has yet to be addressed adequately. This may be due in part to the paucity of empirical evidence. The authors bring over 30 combined years of experience in teaching death education at the university level. They have their own anecdotal stories. They also have empirical evidence. This article addresses the question of why students take death education courses in college by examining data collected from death education classes over a span of 20 years and 3 decades (1985–2004). The results document the magnitude and consistency of the at-risk student. The authors discuss the precautionary steps they take and call for a renewed discourse on ethical considerations in death education.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). (2004). Code of Ethics. Adec.org/about/ethics.cfm. September 25, 2007.
2.
AttigT. (1981). Death education as care of the dying. In PacholoskiR. A. & CorrC. A. (Eds.), New directions in death education and counseling (pp. 168–175). Arlington, VA: Forum for Death Education and Counseling.
3.
BasuS., & HeuserL. (2003). Using service learning in death education. Death Studies, 27(10), 901–927.
4.
BluesteinV. B. (1975). Death-related experiences, attitudes, and findings reported by thanatology students and a national sample. Omega, 6(3), 207–218.
5.
ChampionD. (1970). Basic statistics for social research. Scranton, PA: Chandler Publishing Co.
6.
CorrC. A.NabeC. M., & CorrD. M. (1997). Death and dying, life and living (2nd ed.). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.
7.
CorrC. A., & CorrD. M. (2003). Death education. In BryantC. D. (Ed.), Handbook of death and dying (Vol. 1, pp. 1292–1301). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
8.
CosmoH. (1990). Personal correspondence, March 14.
9.
DeSpelderL. A., & StricklandA. L. (2002). The last dance: Encountering death and dying. New York: McGraw-Hill.
10.
DokaK. J. (1981). Recent bereavement and registration for death studies courses. Omega, 12(1), 51–60.
11.
DokaK. J. (2003). The death awareness movement: Description, history, and analysis. In BryantC. D. (Ed.), Death and dying: The presence of death (pp. 50–56). Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
12.
DurlakJ. A. (1978). Comparison between experiential and didactic methods of death education. Omega, 9(1), 57–66.
13.
FeifelH. (Ed.). (1959). The meaning of death. New York: McGraw-Hill.
14.
FultonR. (Ed.). (1976). Death and identity. Bowie, MD: The Charles Press.
15.
GilbertK. R. (2004). Death education on the “net”: Development and delivery of “grief in a family context.” In CoxG. & BendiksenR. (Eds.), Teaching the sociology of dying and death (pp. 83–91). Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.
16.
KalishR. A. (1985). Death, grief, and caring relationships (2nd ed.). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.
17.
KastenbaumR. J. (1977). We covered death today. Death Education, 1, 85–92.
18.
KastenbaumR. J. (2004). Death, society, and human experience. New York: Allyn and Bacon.
19.
Kübler-RossE. (1969). On death and dying. New York: Macmillan.
20.
LevitonD. (1975). Education for death, or death becomes less strange. Omega, 6(3), 183–191.
21.
LevitonD. (1977). Death education. In FeifelH. (Ed.), New meanings of death (pp. 254–272). New York: McGraw-Hill.
22.
MaglioC. J., & RobinsonS. E. (1994). The effects of death education on death anxiety: A meta-analysis. Omega, 29(4), 319–335.
23.
NeimeyerR. A. (1994), The threat index and related methods. In NeimeyerR. A. (Ed.), Death anxiety handbook: Research, instrumentation, and application (pp. 61–101). Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.
24.
PineV. R. (1977). A socio-historical portrait of death education. Death Education, 1, 57–84.
25.
PineV. R. (1986). The age of maturity for death education: A socio-historical portrait of the era 1976–1985. Death Studies, 10, 209–231.
26.
Psychology Today. 1970. You and death: A Psychology Today questionnaire. Psychology Today, 4(3), 67–72.
27.
RickgarnR. L. V. (1994). Perspectives on college student suicide. Amityville, NY: Baywood.
28.
ServatyH. L., & HayslipB. (1996–97). Death education and communication apprehension regarding dying persons. Omega, 34(2), 139–148.
29.
ShneidmanE. S. (1971). You and death. Psychology Today, 5(1), 43–80.
30.
ShneidmanE. S. (1977). The college student and death. In FeifelH. (Ed.), New meanings of death (pp. 68–86). New York: McGraw-Hill.
31.
SofkaC. J. (2007). Ethical and legal issues and death education. In BalkD. (Ed.), Handbook of thanatology (pp. 355–367). Northbrook, IL: Association for Death Education and Counseling.
32.
ThorntonG., & ZanichM. L. (2001). Death education: Living life and facing death. The Forum, 27(4), 4–5.
33.
WassH. (2004). A perspective on the current state of death education. Omega, 28(4), 289–308.
34.
WassH., & NeimeyerR. A. (Eds.). (1995). Dying: Facing the facts (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.
