Abstract
This study compares two groups of first year medical students, one from the USA and another from Lebanon, regarding their emotional reaction and coping strategies to dissection. Students from both cohorts reported mostly positive emotions associated with dissection, such as finding the activity “stimulating” and “challenging.” Adverse emotions such as “scary” or “nauseating” were not strongly felt; yet many reported the experience nonetheless was “emotional.” Among differences in coping strategies, US students were more likely to seek emotional support and use self-distraction. In brief, cultural context may affect the emotional experience and coping strategies related to cadaveric dissection.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Arráez-Aybar LA, Castaño-Collado G, Casado-Morales MI. Dissection as a modulator of emotional attitudes and reactions of future health professionals. Med Educ. 2008;42:563–71.
Carver CS. You want to measure coping, but your protocol’s too long: consider the brief COPE. Int J Behav Med. 1997;4(1):92–100.
Dempster M, Black A, McCorry N, Wilson D. Appraisal and consequences of cadaver dissection. Med Educ Online. 2006;11:16.
Ferguson E, Mathew G, Cox T. The Appraisal of Life Events (ALE) scale: reliability and validity. Br J Health Psychol. 1999;4:97–116.
Lamdin R, Weller J, Kerse N. Orientation to dissection: assisting students through the transition. Clin Anat. 2012;25:235–40.
Levin M. Anatomy of anatomy in images and words. New York: Third Rail Press; 2000.
O’Carroll RE, Whiten S, Jackson D, Sinclair DW. Assessing the emotional impact of cadaver dissection on medical students. Med Educ. 2002;36:550–4.
Plaisant O, Courtois R, Toussaint PJ, et al. Medical students’ attitudes toward the anatomy dissection room in relation to personality. Anat Sci Educ. 2011;4(6):305–10. doi:10.1002/ase.251.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
The Institutional Review Board at Oakland University approved the protocol.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hajj Hussein, I., Wasserman, J.A., Raoof, A. et al. Differences in Emotional Experience and Coping with Human Cadaver Dissection Between a Sample of US and Lebanese Medical Students: A Pilot Study. Med.Sci.Educ. 26, 203–206 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-016-0239-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-016-0239-6