Opinions of Turkish forensic medicine specialists about concept of death in Turkey

Abstract

Objectives: This investigation was performed to determine opinions of forensic medicine specialists about the concept of death. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional and qualitative study was performed on 103 forensic medicine specialists who consented to participate in the study between 2011-2012. Data were recruited during face-to-face interviews and via e-mail. Results: Forensic medicine specialists participated in this study were mostly (74.8%) male, married (81.6%) with a mean age of 40.45 ± 6.85 years. A 24.3%of them were practicing their speciality for 11-15 years. This study revealed that forensic medicine specialists demonstrate a lower level of death anxiety. Conclusions: Forensic medicine specialists demonstrated a moderate level of avoidance attitude, while they manifested depressive mood towards death. The opinions of forensic medicine specialists about the concept of death were somewhat determined in our study.