Death anxiety and psychotherapy : an examination of counselor trainees' reactions to death-related issues /
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of death anxiety/death fear on counselor trainees' self-reported reactions to written death- and nondeath-related client scenarios. The study was based on the responses of 195 masters and doctoral level students who were each administered the...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2001.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=726082831&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of death anxiety/death fear on counselor trainees' self-reported reactions to written death- and nondeath-related client scenarios. The study was based on the responses of 195 masters and doctoral level students who were each administered the Revised Death Anxiety Scale (RDAS), the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS), and the Death and Psychotherapy Questionnaire (DAPQ). Participants were also asked to complete a Background Information Form. It was hypothesized that reports of death anxiety and death fear would vary for counselor trainees according to (a) age, (b) gender, (c) religious involvement/ participation, (d) counseling experience with death-related client issues, and (e) death education training. It was further hypothesized that counselor trainees would report varying degrees of comfort in response to death-related client scenarios versus other serious but non-death-related counseling situations. Finally, it was hypothesized that counselors' levels of reported comfort, empathy, competency, listening ability, countertransference hate, and emotional instability in response to hypothetical death-related client situations would be predicted by their reported degrees of death anxiety and death fear as assessed by the RDAS and the MFODS. Data for the hypotheses were analyzed using multi-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), paired t-test, and simultaneous multiple regression methods. Results indicated that reported levels of death anxiety and death fear varied significantly across gender and religious involvement/participation. A statistically significant relationship was also found between death anxiety and death education training. Hypotheses regarding age and counseling experience with death-related client situations were rejected. Additional findings indicated that counselor trainees reported experiencing less comfort with death-related client scenarios than with nondeath-related situations. Also, counselor trainees' death fear scores were found to be predictive of their reported levels of comfort, competency, listening ability, countertransference hate, and emotional instability as assessed by the DAPQ, while death anxiety scores were not. Death anxiety and death fear were both found to be unrelated to empathy. In lieu of the results of this study, implications regarding the importance of death education were explored. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Counseling Psychology". |
| Physical Description: | xi, 134 leaves ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-109). |