Abstract:

Objective A practical course of death education was established in order to improve the humanistic care ability of medical students and reduce their fear of death. Methods Based on the concept of outcome-oriented education，a social practice learning program for death education that aligns with the characteristics of medical professions has been developed. An “immersive” teaching format was integrated throughout five major life themes：the journey of life，the power of care，thoughts on death，farewell day and self-care. In 2022-2023，the social practice project was successfully implemented in two rounds. The effects of learning and emotional changes among medical students were assessed using the Care Ability Inventory and Death Attitude Profile-Revised. At the same time，observational method and material collection method were employed to refine and analyze students’ learning achievements and growth changes. Results Among the 65 students，there was a significant improvement in scores related to care cognition after learning（P<0.05），and scores for death anxiety and death avoidance also showed improvement compared to before（P<0.05）. In addition，students’ learning harvest was summarized into five theme categories：experiencing care，providing care；learning gratitude and cherishing practical actions；confronting death and transforming death cognition；understanding life and exploring the meaning of life；undertaking the mission and continuing the spirit of great doctors. Conclusion Through the social practice learning in Life Care and Death Education，the students’ awareness of life care is enhanced，the fear of death is reduced. The students change from ideological self-knowledge to behavioral consciousness，and constantly improve their life care literacy and care ability in the action of participating in life care and end-of-life care.

Key words: Nursing, Education, Curriculum, Caring for life, Death education, Social practice