OF MEDICAL STUDENTS An abstract of a Dissertation by

The problem. The majority of medical students are not being adequately prepared to communicate empathically with dying patients. Students ' personal anxieties and fear of death may lessen and their empathic interpersonal skills increase with formal academic preparation This study examined the effects of a death education course which included empathic communication skills training specifically related to interaction with the terminally i l l patient. Procedures. The research design was an experimental pretest-posttest comparison group design. The experimental treatment group consisted of 12 randomly assigned second-year medical students who were given a combined didactic and experiential death education/ernpathy skills training program i n conjunction with 10 weekly videotaped relationship-building sessions with a terminally i l l cancer patient. The comparison group consisted of 11 second-year medical students who attended t h e 10 weekly relationship-building sessions with a terminall