On the impact of death education on death attitudes and end-of-life planning

• Main Author: Yeo, Zhi Zheng
• Other Authors: Andy Ho Hau Yan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology::Applied psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70571
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Death Anxiety has greatly influenced society to suppress the topic of death by denying and avoiding open and honest discussion about it. This anxiety was sustained by taboo, which contributes to misinformation and ignorance of death. This has led to significant detriments as many find themselves unprepared and uninformed when making End-of-Life (EoL) decisions, leading to suffering. Death Education addresses this issue by improving our knowledge and understanding of death and mortality, thereby reducing beliefs in death taboos and improving Death Attitudes. This study examines the impact of death education on death attitudes, and their subsequent effect on EoL planning. Overall, it was found that death education reduced death anxieties and improved neutral acceptance, while having no effect on Approach- or Escape-oriented Acceptance. Death education also significantly reduced death taboos. However, while death education appears to have an impact on improving participants’ knowledge and acceptance of various palliative programmes, it may not prove as effective in encouraging actual participation of said programmes.