Detached concern and death anxiety of first-year medical students: Before and after the gross anatomy course

The purpose of this study was to gather data from first-year medical students prior to their taking gross anatomy and again at the end of the course to determine if changes occur regarding death anxiety and detached concern toward patients. Chi-square and t-tests were used to assess statistical significance. From the 84 students for whom we had data both prior to and after gross anatomy, only the sociodemographic variable of sex was consistently related to the two dependent variables. Women reported more death anxiety prior to and after the gross anatomy course and were more likely to disagree with the need for detached concern.