A Survey of Professionals' Training and Experiences in Delivering Death Notifications

A mail survey was conducted of 240 people from different professions that routinely encountered death to assess their previous training and experiences in delivering death notifications. Nearly 40% of these persons had received neither classroom nor experiential training in death notification, although 70% of respondents had performed at least one notification. The causes of death that contributed to notifiers' distress during notification included (a) violent crime, (b) drunk driving crashes, (c) suicide, and (d) the death of a child. Survivor reactions that were the most difficult for notifiers to manage during the notification included (a) attempts to harm self or others (b) physical acting-out, and (c) intense anxiety. Notifiers indicated that they most frequently coped with the stresses of notification by (a) spending time with family, (b) talking with coworkers, and (c) spending time alone. The implications of the results and the needs for systematic death notification education were discussed.