{"id":264,"date":"2026-07-02T11:11:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/?page_id=264"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T11:15:08","slug":"researching-the-conversations-we-avoid","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/?page_id=264","title":{"rendered":"Researching the Conversations We Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rachael Barnett<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to work as a student research assistant on a death anxiety research project linked to the public engagement event, Conversations on Death by the Death Studies group at Royal Holloway University of London. As part of my degree, I had studied related content in the Psychology of Love, Death and Meaning module, which covered existentialism and death anxiety among other topics. However, applying my knowledge to this research, especially surrounding a public-awareness-focused event, felt very different. I had not come across the concept of death caf\u00e9s or public events discussing death before, making it an interesting area to work on. I was curious as to how people would react to discussing and thinking about death-related topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research project looked at whether conversations about death had different effects on outcomes such as appreciation for life, connectedness, death anxiety and acceptance compared to traditional death-related prompts which typically ask people to reflect on their own death, such as asking them about the feelings their own death evokes. Throughout this research, I was able to use skills I learnt from my degree, such as questionnaire design, tidying up data, and writing ethics applications in an area of research that people often feel uncomfortable discussing. I found that applying these skills to an emotionally sensitive topic was valuable, as the experience made me realise how much more thought needs to go into research methods where the topic could affect how people feel and can evoke strong emotions. It also highlighted to me how much planning is involved, as well as the number of changes that go into the early research process, particularly on topics deemed sensitive, which I had not fully appreciated before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This became particularly noticeable when completing the ethics proposal. I expected that there would be more ethical considerations than in my previous degree projects, but I underestimated how many additional factors there would be. For example, I had to consider participants who had recently lost someone, as they may be more vulnerable to distress. Additionally, as participants were being recruited from the rather than a student sample, a more varied group of people needed to be factored in. Working on this project encouraged me to reflect more broadly on the importance and purpose of the project beyond the ethical implications and a greater understanding of how these are applied in practice. Despite the sensitivity associated with this topic, it was interesting to explore and understand how conversations about death may have positive effects. Although these conversations are often avoided, they can help people find meaning and appreciation for life, as well as build connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assisting with this research highlighted to me how death-related conversations are important within society. The avoidance of these discussions may reflect a broader societal issue with death being stigmatised in multiple Western cultures. This avoidance can increase anxiety as suppressed thoughts and fears may contribute to psychological distress (Dumitru et al., 2025). A shift in attitudes towards death, with more open discussion, could help reduce the stigma surrounding these conversations and the idea of death in general, as seen in some other cultural contexts (Morgan-Duggan et al., 2025). This made me think about how death is viewed and understood more broadly within society and why it is approached in this way, being considered a socially sensitive topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death is a topic that is often avoided, with people not wanting to talk about it due to its ability to evoke feelings of fear, loss and uncertainty. Still, it is an inevitable part of life, as every living thing eventually comes to an end. Because of this, these topics are often treated as socially and culturally taboo, especially in Western society, often seen as depressing as well as fear-inducing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be seen through funerals in these cultures, where they are often seen as a time for grieving and focusing on the loss. This may reinforce the taboo that death is not something that should be discussed or talked about openly. However, in other cultures, funerals are seen as a celebration of life rather than simply grieving, fostering meaning and connection to the lost one. For example, in Zongo communities in Ghana, funerals are vibrant celebrations of life that foster unity among distant families and the broader community (Halawayhi & Nunfam, 2025). This alternative view on funerals and death may be worth exploring, as open discussions about death or guided meditations may increase an appreciation of life and lead to better psychological well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, assisting with this research has broadened my understanding of death and the ways that people engage with the topic. Going forward, it has made me more curious about the number of ways in which conversations about death may be facilitated to improve well-being and appreciation for life. It has reinforced how important continued research on death anxiety-related topics is within the population. Going forward, I hope to stay involved in research that helps make these conversations easier for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dumitru, E. P., Cardo\u0219, R. A. I., Milea, I., Gambarota, F., Alto\u00e8, G., David, D. O., & Cristea, I. A. (2025). A meta-analysis of the association of death anxiety with psychological distress and psychopathology. Nature human behaviour, 9<\/em>(5), 933\u2013943. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41562-025-02115-7<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halawayhi, F., Nunfam, V.F. (2025). Exploring the sociocultural significance of funerals in Zongo communities in less-developed countries: a case of Effiakuma Zongo in the western Region of Ghana. African Identities<\/em>, 1\u201318. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/14725843.2025.2563327<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morgan-Duggan, C., Brooks, J., Graham-Wisener, L., & Rowland, C. (2025). Adopting the lens of the COM-B behaviour change model to qualitatively explore and understand public health implications of young adults\u2019 attitudes towards death-talk. BMC Public Health, 25<\/em>, 3307. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/s12889-025-24519-w<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rachael Barnett Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to work as a student research assistant on a death anxiety research project linked to the public engagement event, Conversations on Death by the Death Studies group at Royal Holloway University of London. As part of my degree, I had studied related […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":209,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-264","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266,"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions\/266"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deathstudiesgroup.psychologyresearch.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}