Effect of a Brief Instructional Unit in Death Education on the Death Attitudes of Prospective Elementary School Teachers

Abstract

The present study determined if there would be a significant change in the attitudes of prospective elementary school teachers toward death after two, one- and-one-half hour instructional units of death education that were incorporated into an elementary health education methods and content class (experimental group). Control groups consisted of similar students who did not receive death education, but were enrolled in the elementary health education methods and content class (control group I) and another group of students who were not in elementary education, but were enrolled in a basic home economics class (control group II). The Templer Death Anxiety Scale and a scale developed by the author to measure attitudes toward death education for young children were administered to the three groups during pretest and posttest sessions two and 10 weeks after instruction. Validity and reliability for the author's scale was determined by various experimental procedures. Several different resources were used in the education process. The experimental group had significantly less fear of death and felt more comfortable discussing death with children than did the two control groups. The results suggest that brief units of death education are effective in changing the attitudes of future elementary teachers.

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