ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate college-age students' awareness of and involvement in hospice and to ascertain information regarding their own experiences with death and their preferences about death and dying. Our data were gathered through a mailed survey to 521 biology majors at an undergraduate college in the southeastern United States (122 responded or 23%). The majority of respondents were aware of hospice, yet less than 25% had any involvement with hospice. Over 90% of the respondents had seen a dead body, and one-third had witnessed a death. Statistically significant differences by gender were found only with awareness of hospice, with women being more knowledgeable. With health professions as the goal for most of these students, a similar study with a cohort of non-college students, or even non-health-profession-bound college students, would serve as an interesting "control" group.
