Fabio Vito Sblano

In Western society, the topic of death has been removed from everyday life and replaced with medical language. Such censorship does not reduce individuals’ fear of death, but rather limits their ability to elaborate their experiences of death, thus generating negative effects. The objective of this follow-up qualitative study was to detect how and if death education can help to improve individuals’ relationship with death and enhance care environments like hospices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with palliative care professionals and teachers who had taken part in a death education initiative three years earlier. The results confirmed the initiative’s positive effect on both palliative care professionals and teachers. The participants reported that the education initiative helped them to positively modify their perspective on death, end-of-life care, and their own relationship to life, as well as their perception of community attitudes towards the hospice, which seemed to become less discriminatory. This study confirmed that school education initiatives can usefully create continuity between hospices and local communities. This project provided an educational space wherein it was possible for participants to elaborate their experiences in relation to death and to re-evaluate and appreciate hospices.

Background: In Western society, discussions about death have shifted from the domain of the everyday to the domain of medicine. Such censorship does not reduce the fear of death; rather, it deprives people of the means to elaborate their experiences of death, generating negative effects such as difficult mourning and stigmatisation of palliative care environments. The objective of this follow-up study was to detect whether and how death education can help to improve individuals’ relationship with death. Methods: This was a qualitative research study based on grounded theory. We conducted semi-structured interviews with both palliative care professionals and teachers who had taken part in a death education intervention three years earlier. The interviews were interpreted through thematic analysis. Results: The results confirmed death education’s positive effect for both palliative care professionals and teachers. These individuals reported that the education initiative helped them to positively modify their perspectives on death and dying, as well as their attitudes towards life. It also helped to improve community attitudes towards the hospice and its workers. Conclusions: This study confirmed that school education initiatives can create continuity between hospices and local communities. The death education project provided an educational space in which it was possible to elaborate experiences linked to death and to re-evaluate and appreciate hospices and their staff.