Can Exposure to Online Conversations About Death and Dying Influence Death Competence? An Exploratory Study Within an Australian Massive Open Online Course

Miller-Lewis, L; Tieman, J; Rawlings, D; Parker, D; Sanderson, C

Can Exposure to Online Conversations About Death and Dying Influence Death Competence? An Exploratory Study Within an Australian Massive Open Online Course

Miller-Lewis, L Tieman, J Rawlings, D Parker, D

Sanderson, C

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Omega (United States), 2018
Issue Date:: 2018-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Miller-Lewis, L	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Tieman, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Rawlings, D	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Parker, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2552-8613	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Sanderson, C https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5423-5778	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-05-25T19:02:33Z
dc.date.issued	2018-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Omega (United States), 2018	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0030-2228	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124692
dc.description.abstract	© 2018, The Author(s) 2018. A Massive Open Online Course, Dying2Learn, was designed to foster community death conversations and strengthen community awareness of palliative care and death as a normal process. This exploratory study used a pre–post prospective design to determine if participation in Dying2Learn and exposure to online conversations about death and dying resulted in any significant influence on death competence in 134 participants who completed the Coping-with-Death-Scale both at the beginning and end of the course in 2016. Death competence refers to a range of attitudes and capabilities people have for dealing with death. Results at the end of the course indicated that engagement in Dying2Learn led to significant improvements in death competence scores over time (medium-to-large effect size). The positive impact was greater for those who completed more of the course, and effectiveness did not depend on sociodemographic characteristics. In conclusion, this study found that an online learning platform in the form of a Massive Open Online Course could engage community members in meaningful social discussion about death and dying, and that exposure to these conversations was beneficial for all participants regardless of previous exposure to death. Further exploration is required to determine whether this change in death competence will have an impact on participant’s behavior in the community regarding death conversations and preparedness.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Omega (United States)	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0030222818765813	en_US
dc.title	Can Exposure to Online Conversations About Death and Dying Influence Death Competence? An Exploratory Study Within an Australian Massive Open Online Course	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1701 Psychology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/Nursing
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Students
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

© 2018, The Author(s) 2018. A Massive Open Online Course, Dying2Learn, was designed to foster community death conversations and strengthen community awareness of palliative care and death as a normal process. This exploratory study used a pre–post prospective design to determine if participation in Dying2Learn and exposure to online conversations about death and dying resulted in any significant influence on death competence in 134 participants who completed the Coping-with-Death-Scale both at the beginning and end of the course in 2016. Death competence refers to a range of attitudes and capabilities people have for dealing with death. Results at the end of the course indicated that engagement in Dying2Learn led to significant improvements in death competence scores over time (medium-to-large effect size). The positive impact was greater for those who completed more of the course, and effectiveness did not depend on sociodemographic characteristics. In conclusion, this study found that an online learning platform in the form of a Massive Open Online Course could engage community members in meaningful social discussion about death and dying, and that exposure to these conversations was beneficial for all participants regardless of previous exposure to death. Further exploration is required to determine whether this change in death competence will have an impact on participant’s behavior in the community regarding death conversations and preparedness.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124692