A Survey of Professionals’ Training and Experiences in Delivering Death Notifications

A mail survey was conducted of 240 people from different professions that routinely encountered death to assess their previous training & experiences in delivering death notifications. Nearly 40% of subjects had received neither classroom nor experiential training although 70% had performed at least 1 notification. Causes of death contributing to notifier’s distress included suicide. Survivor reactions that were difficult to manage are discussed. Notifier coping strategies are described. Implications of the study results are discussed.