Educating children to cope with death: A preventive model

Abstract

Today's children increasingly are exposed to death in their environments. The professional literature indicates potentially adverse effects of unresolved childhood grief. These factors point to the need for death education to be included in the school curriculum, with a focus on promotion of health and prevention of disorders. School psychologists should be in the forefront of advocating, developing, and implementing such a program, in collaboration with the teachers. This article reviews what is known about children's conceptions of death, how children grieve, and relevant research. The guidelines of clinicians in the field are presented on such issues as explaining death to children, their attending funerals, and treating bereaved youths and their families. In addition the broad outline for a death education program is presented, incorporating developmental and theoretical principles about children's grieving process. The curriculum's goals are to provide students with appropriate information about the life cycle, to identify affective issues associated with grief, and to facilitate the development of effective coping strategies for managing bereavement reactions. A death education program may help students to more fully appreciate life while realizing that death is a natural part of the life process.