Keimyung Med J.  2023 Dec;42(2):75-79. 10.46308/kmj.2023.00115.

Exploring the Possibility of Death Education through Literature from the Perspective of Medical Humanities

• Song ML
• Kim JH
• Kim CY
• Jang KJ
• Choi BD

• KMID: 2549769
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.46308/kmj.2023.00115

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of medical humanities from the perspective of death literature and to explore educational possibilities. In this study, the possibility of medical humanities from the perspective of death literature was considered by dividing it into the effect of death education in poetry, the effect of death education in novels, and the effect of death education in essays. As a result, the possibility of death education using poetry seems to be key to triggering the imagination related to the experiences of students through the medium of death poetry implied in symbolic language. The possibility of death education using novels seems to be meaningful in indirectly experiencing life and death by using the characteristics of transitional experience of novels and having them worry about the true meaning and value of life. The possibility of death education using essays is that they can utilize the characteristics of empathic experiences of essays. Essays contain actual events rather than fiction and are expected to be effective in education on death because they present the author's direct experience and accompanying emotions. In conclusion, this study is meaningful in suggesting the application of medical humanities education that integrates and improves the direction of death education as human-centered medicine based on clinical and medical science as a humanistic understanding of death.

Keyword

Death education; Essay; Medical humanities; Novel; Poet