Undergraduate Students’ Awareness of and Beliefs About Unusual End-of-Life Phenomena

Abstract

One hundred and forty undergraduate students responded to an online survey investigating their awareness of and beliefs about 12 unusual end-of-life phenomena (EOLP). Three quarters or more of the students had heard about the following EOLP: deathbed visions (75%), after-death communications (84%), near-death experiences (86%), and dying people choosing their time of death (88%). Students were least aware of the phenomena of shapes leaving the body after death (30%) and clocks or watches stopping when someone dies (26%). The two most common sources of students’ knowledge about EOLP were from watching TV/movies (52–79%) and the internet (38–71%); the least common source was personal/direct experience with the EOLP (2–36%). Fifty-three percent of the students strongly agreed/agreed that EOLP are spiritual events, while 41% strongly agreed/agreed that there are medical explanations for EOLP. Suggestions for future research are offered.