EDUCATION FOR DEATH: PERCEPTION OF FINITUDE BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Humans are endowed with a sophisticated nervous system that includes the functions of thought, feeling and emotions with the varied and complex expressions influencing the way people perceive and face death. Objectives: To adapt the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale and Dying Scale for the Brazilian culture and evaluate the attitude of undergraduates in respect to death and dying. Methods: This study was divided into two stages; the first was to develop a transcultural adaptation of the scale that passed through the following methodological steps: translation; synthesis; retro-translation; review by a committee; and pre-test. The second phase was carried out with 304 university students from the Medicine, Civil Engineering, Administration and Psychology courses of two further education institutions in the municipality of São José do Rio Preto, SP. All students gave their written informed consent, answered the structured sociodemographic questionnaire and the Revised Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale. Results: The sample consisted of 304 university students with a mean age of 22.3 years (± 5.28). Of all the participants, 54.6% were female, predominantly single (82.6%), Catholic (54.6%) and in economic class A (37.5%). The fear of death was significantly greater in female participants (p-value