Comparison between Experiential and Didactic Methods of Death Education

Abstract

This research examined the impact of a death and dying workshop on individual attitudes toward life and death. The workshop was a voluntary eight-hour, small group experience conducted for heterogeneous hospital staff of a large southeastern medical center. Pre-post questionnaire data were collected from two groups of workshop participants and a matched control group. One of the workshop groups (didactic group) participated in an educational program emphasizing lecture presentations and small group discussion. In contrast, the second workshop group (experiential) confronted, examined, and shared their own feelings and reactions to grief and death. Role playing and death awareness and grief exercises were used for this purpose. Data indicated that the experiential group showed a significant reduction in fear of death as a result of the workshop, whereas both the didactic and control groups changed negatively over time. Results support the view that an emotional, personal approach to death is an important element in an effective death educational program.