A thematic analysis of students' discussions on death and body donation in international online focus groups

Abstract

Historically, Anatomy education is an in‐person discipline involving exposure to human body donors that facilitates personal and professional growth through, in part, the initiation of reflection on the topic of death. However, during the COVID‐19 pandemic the decreased exposure to cadaveric anatomy for many health professions students may have influenced the depth of their individual reflections on this topic. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the effect of an alternate approach—focus group discussions between peers with varying degrees of exposure to cadaveric material—that may offer one strategy to stimulate deep reflection on the topic of death. A programmatic intervention was introduced, wherein students (n = 221) from 13 international universities discussed differences in their anatomy courses during small focus group sessions as part of an online exchange program. An inductive semantic thematic analysis was conducted on responses to an open‐ended text–response question on how the activity influenced students' reflections about death. Resulting themes were organized into categories that described the content and topics of the students' discussions as they grappled with this sensitive topic. The students reportedly engaged in deep reflection and expressed an increased sense of connectedness with their peers, despite their disparate exposure levels to cadaveric anatomy and being physically distanced. This demonstrates that focus groups with students experiencing different laboratory contexts can be used to help all students reflect on the topic of death and that interchanges between dissecting and non‐dissecting students can initiate thoughts about death and body donation among non‐dissecting students.

A comparison of student perspectives on body donation across healthcare professional programs: From prosection‐ to dissection‐based curricula

“…that found donor‐based learning provided healthcare professional students, including nursing student populations, with the opportunity to learn about death in a controlled environment. Such subthemes are present in other studies that feature the multifaceted impact that donor‐based learning has on students studying anatomy 22–24 …”

“…20,21 The five major themes that guided the categorization of the students' reflections on medical ethics were defined by a study done in Such subthemes are present in other studies that feature the multifaceted impact that donor-based learning has on students studying anatomy. [22][23][24]…”

“…Alongside this, the more prevalent subthemes discovered in this study discussed the measures that students implemented during laboratory sessions to ensure the maintenance of the body donors' dignities. This demonstrates that any exposure to donor‐based learning is a powerful educational tool that provides students with the opportunity to explore concepts such as respecting body donors, work ethics and morality, on top of gaining knowledge and skills in human anatomy makes it a powerful educative resource 10,14,24,31–33 …”

“…This demonstrates that any exposure to donor-based learning is a powerful educational tool that provides students with the opportunity to explore concepts such as respecting body donors, work ethics and morality, on top of gaining knowledge and skills in human anatomy makes it a powerful educative resource. 10,14,24,[31][32][33] Main differences between the various groups of healthcare students Accordingly, the fact that the PT/OT students spent the most amount of hours in the anatomy laboratory specifically, taking part in both prosection and dissection, it is very likely that they used similar coping mechanisms. Due to the nature of the prosection-based study undertaken by this group of health professional students; the "disassembled state" of the specimens and prosections not being whole-body, the aspect of preserving the privacy of body donors by concealing body parts may not have been at the forefront during their period of reflection, and thus, was not prominently addressed.…”

Undergraduate medical student perceptions and learning outcomes related to anatomy training using Thiel‐ and ethanol‐glycerin‐embalmed tissues

“…For most medical students, the exposure to post‐mortem human bodies in an anatomy setting is their first encounter with the transience of life and, ultimately, death (Attardi et al, 2022; Chaudhuri, 2022; Yakura et al, 2022; Zhang et al, 2022; Wu et al, 2023). The procedure of dissecting human tissues and incising an intact corpse can result in a broad variety of discomfort or stressful experiences for students in health science (Arráez‐Aybar et al, 2004; Cahill & Ettarh, 2009; Lindsey et al, 2011; Bati et al, 2013; Getachew, 2014; Sándor et al, 2015; Tseng & Lin, 2016; Criado‐Álvarez et al, 2017; Chia et al, 2020; Zibis et al, 2021).…”