Article Text

Download PDFPDF

ACP is a national social movement – the effectiveness of life education programs for school children: a preliminary study
Free
  1. W S Lai1,
  2. W P Yang2,
  3. Y L Shih3 and
  4. H C Liu3
  1. 1Meiho University,Taiwan, Japan
  2. 2Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan, Japan
  3. 3Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan, Japan

Abstract

Advance Care Planning (ACP) is a national social movement. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the life educational program and to make recommendations related to its delivery. The subjects were 252 students between the ages of 7 and 13 from one elementary school in southern Taiwan. The objective of this education program is to introduce life-cycle concepts that would help the student learn coping skills for the painful events. The program lasted 40 min and was conducted as follows: (1) A brief introduction and rapport building (10 min); (2) Presentation of a Flash video which introduced the concept of the life-cycle experience (10 min); (3) An open discussion session (20 min). Discussion outlines consisted of: a) natural life processes b) dealing with grief and loss and c) healthy attitudes toward life-and-death. The results showed that the video could become a catalyst for student discussion of life-and-death issues.

Some findings Among the students who had relatives or friends who suffered from severe illnesses or had passed away; that 91% felt that they had no one to discuss their feelings with, and that 76% thought their loved one who died suffered in pain. 23% of all students had experienced the death of a pet and the grief they felt was in proportion to the pain their pet had endured while dying. The results of this study provided insights into the students' feeling and needs related to life and death issues and also pointed out that ACP's promotion should early evolve within the daily school experience.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.