“Mum, when we die, what do you think happens?” A qualitative study of views on death education among Spanish families

Abstract

We developed a study to determine perceptions of death education among parents of Spanish schoolchildren aged 3–18 years. We used a qualitative approach, using focus groups and interviews in six state schools. Notable findings were death-related issues are of interest to families, parents recognized the educational potential of teaching death issues, and they called for training in the Pedagogy of Death for both themselves and teachers. In death education, it is important to take families’ views into account, acknowledging their authority and contributions, to improve schools and education for both children and parents.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) (Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under Grant EDU2017-85296-R, in the framework of the leading R + D+I grants in Spain.