Death education’s “period of popularity”: Lessons for contemporary P-12 schools in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic

Exploring the needs and barriers for death education in China: Getting answers from heart transplant recipients' inner experience of death

“…Good death is consistent with the connotation of traditional Chinese culture ( 27 ). In China, “good death” is the fifth of the five blessings ( 28 ), and the first four blessings are longevity, wealth, health, and good morality. This study shows that heart transplant recipients have the wish for a good death, and this is consistent with studies involving oncology, and at the end of life, patients who wish for a good death ( 29 ), which suggests that to provide adequate person-centered care to society, we need to understand people's perception and personal wishes for end of life and promote the development of hospice care in accordance with Chinese conditions to meet the public's wish for a good death.…”

“…These reflections played a role in the maintenance of their physical and mental health after surgery and in facing life positively—their attitude toward life and living it was not negative, despite experiencing major surgical trauma and even confronting uncertain postoperative complications and financial stress. This suggests that thinking about death is necessary to help people live better life ( 28 ). At this stage, death education in China is scarcely available due to people's concern that in some circumstances, death education may have a negative impact on people, for example, it could encourage people to suicide ( 30 ).…”

“…Death education helps people acquire knowledge on death and dying and helps in cultivating and improving the ability of the public to cope and deal with death events ( 28 ). In addition, death education reduces the acquired fear of death in people, which is an important prerequisite for achieving a good death.…”

How thoughts of death and intrinsic/extrinsic goal orientation affect well‐being during the pandemic

“…Recent death education intervention studies conducted with the elderly (Chen et al, 2020), adolescents (Testoni, Ronconi, et al, 2019), and preschoolers and their parents (Testoni, Cordioli, et al, 2019) have found that death education has positive psychological and emotional outcomes. Scholars and professionals have long insisted on including death education in the K‐12 curriculum (Aspinall, 1996; Galende, 2015; Oaks & Bibeau, 1987; Smilie, 2021; Wass, 2004; Willis, 2002). The provision of death education in schools can help individuals accept death, overcome fear and anxiety, become more resilient, and maintain their well‐being in future life‐threatening emergencies.…”

The Central Role of Schools in Promoting Death Education Interventions

“…We have gone from an excess of protection to an unlimited exposure where death has assumed proportions such as upsetting the daily routines, avoiding it is no longer possible, its spectre has invaded every space: home, school, work, public gardens, supermarkets, shops, libraries, gyms, pizzerias… An overturned scenario appears to us, but one aspect has not changed: children and young people today, like yesterday, seem left Giuditta Fagnani alone to deal with their anxieties (Fagnani & Tangocci 2021). Today, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students are likely surrounded by death and loss and their ever-present images as never before (Smilie 2022).…”