Death and dying course offerings in psychology: a survey of nine Midwestern states.

The certainty of facing death and bereavement and the complex personal and societal issues involved argue for the importance of death education. The current study addresses a gap in knowledge by beginning to assess the extent of dying, death, and bereavement (DD&B) course offerings by U.S. psychology departments. This article reports on data collected from an initial survey of psychology departments in nine Midwestern states. Approximately 20% of respondents have offered a DD&B course in the last 5 years. Reasons for lack of DD&B courses include faculty and curriculum issues, as well as DD&B topics being covered elsewhere. These issues are discussed, and data are compared with DD&B course coverage in health-related fields.