Fear of Death and Performance in a Dental Gross Anatomy Course with Cadaveric Dissection

Abstract

IntroductionIn the last few decades the necessity of cadaveric dissection in anatomy education has come into question. Some anatomists feel that dissection is essential and promotes students' understanding of death and dying issues. Others argue that cadaveric dissection may not be an appropriate way to introduce students to these sensitive issues. This is supported by literature establishing cadaveric dissection as a source of anxiety in anatomy students. Considering general anxiety has been shown to be associated with performance, anxiety caused by cadaveric dissection has the potential to impact exam scores in gross anatomy. What has yet to be studied is how cadaveric dissection influences students' fear of death and how fear of death is related to performance in gross anatomy.AimThis study aims to describe how dental students' fear of death changes with exposure to cadaveric dissection and investigate its relationship to performance in a gross anatomy course.MethodsWith IRB approval, students' fear of death will be surveyed using three subscales from the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS): Fear of the Dead, Fear of Being Destroyed, and Fear for the Body After Death. The survey will be given at the beginning of the semester and again before each exam to determine if there are changes in students' fear of death throughout the gross anatomy course. Students' fear of death scores will also be correlated to written and practical exam scores to determine if there is a relationship between fear of death and anatomy performance. In order to account for potential covariates, such as the students' prior experience with cadavers, time spent in lab outside of scheduled hours, and percentage of time spent actively dissecting the cadavers, these factors will be included in statistical analysis using multiple regression.ResultsData is currently being collected and analyzed.DiscussionResults of this study may reveal a link between fear of death and performance in gross anatomy. Understanding this relationship would allow instructors to implement interventions to modulate fear of death and improve performance in gross anatomy. Possible interventions may include a death education course, as they have been shown to significantly lower fear of death. Ultimately, this would allow for anatomy faculty members to further support their students both emotionally and academically.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.