Immediate, residual, and long-term effects of a death education instructional unit on the death anxiety level of nursing students

This survey of nursing students exposed to a death education instructional unit demonstrates that significant reductions in death anxiety levels took place on both short-term and long-term bases. These results, when compared with those obtained in an earlier pilot study following a less well-developed instructional unit, have implications for curriculum design. Time must be allowed for closure on anxiety-producing topics. Values-clarification and consciousness-raising activities built into the curriculum seem to account for the observed reductions in death anxiety levels.