title: Faculty's empathy and academic support for grieving students.
abstract: This study assessed a voluntary sample (n = 123) of college faculty's attitudes toward grieving students and likelihood to provide referrals and course accommodations. Empathy levels of faculty were also measured. Although 97% of faculty indicated that at least 1 student had reported a death, only 36% had referred a student to counseling services. Mean number of referrals was .75, ranging 0 to 10. Empathy, attitude toward grief and a personal history of experiencing death during college were significant predictors of comfort level discussing death and likelihood to provide accommodations. Faculty were more likely to provide accommodations immediately following loss rather than weeks or months later.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Science, Community Health Program, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota 56001, USA. amy.hedman@mnsu.edu
authors.forename: Amy S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Hedman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004645:Empathy; D005178:Faculty / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities