Young mothers' communication about death with their children

Qur'an course teachers' views on death education for children aged 4-6

The aim of this study is to examine the views of teachers who teach Qur'an courses to 4-6 year-olds on the inclusion of death in the curriculum, their observations about children's perceptions of and reactions to death, and the difficulties they experience while informing children about death. A qualitative research approach was adopted in the study. The data obtained from 41 teachers the interview form with were evaluated using descriptive analysis. According to the teachers, the inclusion of the phenomenon of death in the course curriculum for 4-6 year-olds is essential for satisfying the curiosity of children from a correct source. However, due to the multidimensional, deep and unexperienced nature of the death phenomenon, a clear answer has not yet been given to the question of the framework and limit of the explanations, and what and how much should be explained for whom.

Sources of children's knowledge about death and dying

In the last century, decreases in infant and child mortality, urbanization and increases in healthcare efficacy have reduced children's personal exposure to death and dying. So how do children acquire accurate conceptions of death in this context? In this paper, we discuss three sources of children's learning about death and dying, namely, direct experience of death, parental communication about death and portrayals of death in the media and the arts. We conclude with recommendations about how best to teach modern children about this aspect of life.This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary thanatology: impacts of the dead on the living in humans and other animals'.

Death education: knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives of Irish parents and teachers

This article reports on a cross-sectional survey of the knowledge, attitudes and perspectives of Irish parents and school teachers concerning children's grief and the concept of death education. The sample comprised 119 parents and 142 teachers of Irish Primary-school children (5-12 years of age) who completed a self-administered questionnaire. Both parents and teachers reported high levels of understanding of the nature of children's grief and strongly supported the view that death should be discussed with children before they encounter it. Although discussions of death were reported in the classroom and in the home, both teachers and parents, particularly men, reported being uncomfortable talking to children about death. There was general support for inclusion of death education in the school curriculum, with both teachers and parents supporting the need for further teacher training to undertake its delivery. There were few significant differences between the expressed attitudes of parents and teachers. However, teachers were more likely than parents to agree that death education would take away from parental responsibility. The implications of the findings for further work in this area are considered.

Development, Reliability, and Validity of the Children's Questions about Death Scale

Most measures of parent-child communication about death are specific only to families of chronically ill children. In contrast, The Children's Questions About Death Scale (CQADS) was constructed to assess how effectively mothers respond to questions about death that their healthy children are likely to ask them. The CQADS originated from a pool of 237 questions that mothers ( N = 116) reported they had been asked by their children regarding death. Final item selection was determined by categorizing the questions using four categories (essence, intentionality, loss of relationship, and self-oriented) and selecting a representative set of four items in each category that demonstrated adequate response variability and inter-rater agreement. The scoring criteria for the CQADS were established on the basis of expert opinion in the literature. Operationally defined scoring criteria were developed so that mothers' written responses to each of the questions on the CQADS could be rated for effectiveness on a scale from 1 ( not at all effective) to 5 ( very effective). Total scores could range from 16 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater effectiveness in responding to children's questions about death. The CQADS has excellent test-retest reliability ( r = .95, p < .05), and inter-rater reliability greater than .80.

Death Education: A Comparison of two Programs for Mothers of Young Children

The study compared two death education programs for mothers ( N = 90) of young children. Pre- and post-test scores on the State-Anxiety Scale and researcher-designed instruments that included the Children's Questions About Death Scale (CQADS) and Future Plans Inventory (FPI) were compared. Mothers in both the Didactic and Didactic-Experiential programs scored significantly higher than the Control group in their level of effectiveness in responding to children's questions, but the two treatment groups did not significantly differ from each other. Neither the Didactic Death Education nor the Didactic-Experiential Death Education programs significantly affected mothers' anxiety before responding to children's questions about death. Post hoc analyses suggested trends relating subject characteristics to mother's level of effectiveness in responding to a child's questions about death.