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

Wan Shu, QunFang Miao, JieHui Feng, GuanMian Liang, Jing Zhang, Jinsheng Zhang

Frontiers in Public Health February 13, 2023 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1082979 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Sample size 11
Population Heart transplant recipients who had undergone transplantation more than one year earlier
Topics Near-death experience
Keywords Heart transplantation Death attitude Death education Qualitative research
Key findings Heart transplant recipients are described as having a positive attitude toward death and a wish for a "good death" at the end of life. Five themes were identified, including not avoiding talk about death, fear of pain during dying, surprising richness of near-death feelings, and greater receptivity to death from closeness to it. The authors argue these experiences support the need for death education in China and an experiential approach to it.

Abstract

BackgroundPromoting reflection about death may support better living, and how to carry out death education is an important issue to be addressed across the world. The purpose of the current study was to explore the attitude of heart transplant recipients toward death and their inner real experience to provide information for the development of death education strategies.MethodsA phenomenological qualitative study was conducted using a snowball method. A total of 11 patients who had undergone heart transplantation more than 1-year ago were recruited for the current study for semi-structured interviews.ResultsA total of five themes were identified: “Not avoid talking about death,” “Feeling fear about the pain in the process of death”, “Wanting a good death at the end of life,” “The richness of feelings during near-death is surprising,” and “Being close to death makes people more receptive to death.”ConclusionHeart transplant recipients have a positive attitude toward death and wish for “good death” at the end of life. These patients' near-death experiences and positive attitudes toward death during the course of their illness provided evidence of the need for death education in China and supported the experiential approach to death education.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on near-death experience, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Qualitative thematic analysis of the phenomenology of near-death experiences Cardiac arrest survivors 2018 Qualitative study n = 34
Do Suicide Survivors Report Near-Death Experiences? Persons who had been close to death as a result of a suicide attempt 1982 Qualitative study n = 36
The evolving self: finding meaning in near-death experiences using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Female participants who had near-death experiences 2008 Qualitative study n = 3
Investigation of the phenomenology, physiology and impact of spiritually transformative experiences - kundalini awakening. Persons having a spiritually transformative experience (e.g., spontaneous energetic... 2021 Qualitative study
Near-death experiences and religion: A further investigation Near-death experiencers 1984 Qualitative study n = 40

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Near-death experience Philosophy of mind