Indirect Attempt to Change Death Attitudes: Negative Findings and Associated Relationships

Rasmussen, Christina A.; Templer, Donald I.; Kenkel, Mary Beth; Cannon, W. Gary

doi:10.2190/p1hw-09jw-47pn-pnvd

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Therefore, organizations can consider incorporating mindfulness training into their death‐related education and training programs. Finally, as Sliter, Sinclair, et al () note, because attitudes toward death may be difficult to change in a shorter time span (Rasmussen, Templer, Kenkel, & Cannon, ), death educational programs should be long‐term, intensive, and participative in order to be effective (Mooney, ).…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Memento Mori: The development and validation of the Death Reflection Scale

et al. 2018

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Summary Despite its potential for advancing organizational behavior (OB) research, the topic of death awareness has been vastly understudied. Moreover, research on death awareness has predominantly focused on the anxiety‐provoking aspect of death‐related cognitions, thus overlooking the positive aspect of death awareness, death reflection. This gap is exacerbated by the lack of a valid research instrument to measure death reflection. To address this issue, we offer a systematic conceptualization of death reflection, develop the Death Reflection Scale, and assess its psychometric properties across four studies. Further, using a sample of 268 firefighters, we examine whether death reflection buffers the detrimental impact of mortality cues at work on employee well‐being and safety performance. Results provide strong support for the psychometric properties of the Death Reflection Scale. Further, moderation analysis indicates death reflection weakens the negative effect of mortality cues on firefighters' safety performance. Overall, these findings suggest the newly developed Death Reflection Scale will prove useful in future research on death‐related cognitions.

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Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Memento Mori: The development and validation of the Death Reflection Scale

et al. 2018

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“…In a more recent attempt to change death attitudes indirectly, Rasmussen, Templer, Kenkel, & Cannon (1998) used concentrated relaxation and stress management as a tool to try to reduce death anxiety in nursing students. They found no difference in death anxiety levels of their treatment group than the two control groups.…”

Section: Death Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of a palliative care educational component on attitudes toward care of the dying in undergraduate nursing students

Mallory

2003

Journal of Professional Nursing

191

180

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Nurse educators have identified that historically nurses have not been prepared to care for dying patients. Research also has identified that nursing students have anxieties about death, dying, and caring for dying patients. Several factors have been identified as affecting nurses' and nursing students' attitudes toward care of the dying. Factors addressed in this research were current and previous death education. This research incorporated experiential learning using a model of death education and transformative learning theory. The educational experiences were geared to help students understand the skills needed to care competently and compassionately for the dying. The use of the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) education package along with experiences at the hospice, the funeral home, the anatomy laboratory, and role play helped facilitate transformative learning in the nursing students. The study examined the effects of an educational experience to determine if a one-time educational experience provides sufficient, lasting effects in a 6-week format. Results of this study indicate that education can have a positive effect on nursing students' attitudes toward care of the dying. Nursing students in the intervention group had a significant positive increase in their attitudes toward care of the dying after the intervention. The attitude change increased slightly after a 4-week period.

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“…Despite such a potentially debilitating condition, there are currently no effective ways to reduce death anxiety. Experimental studies are lacking, and the few studies that have been done found little support for behavioral approaches (e.g., systematic desensitization and relaxation; Rasmussen et al 1998;Testa 1981;White et al 1983White et al -1984 or life review therapy (Vaughan and Kinnier 1996). Other approaches, such as regret therapy (Tomer and Eliason 1996) or spiritual counseling (Eliason 2000), have not been subject to experimental investigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gratitude lessens death anxiety

Lau

Cheng

2011

Eur J Ageing

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This study investigated whether a brief gratitude induction could reduce death anxiety. 83 Chinese older adults (mean age = 62.7, SD = 7.13) were randomly assigned into one of three conditions: gratitude, hassle, and neutral, in which they wrote different types of life events before responding to measures of death anxiety and affect. Participants in the gratitude induction reported lower death anxiety than the hassle and the neutral condition, whereas no difference was observed for the latter two conditions. There was no experimental effect on positive affect, and a significant effect on negative affect but which did not favor the gratitude condition. By reexamining life events with a thankful attitude, people may become less fearful of death due to a sense that life has been well-lived. Because gratitude can be induced using a very brief procedure, there are broad applications in clinical and health-care settings for the relief of death anxiety.

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Indirect Attempt to Change Death Attitudes: Negative Findings and Associated Relationships

Cited by 13 publications

References 8 publications

Memento Mori: The development and validation of the Death Reflection Scale

Memento Mori: The development and validation of the Death Reflection Scale

The impact of a palliative care educational component on attitudes toward care of the dying in undergraduate nursing students

Gratitude lessens death anxiety

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