title: [Learning about death from the undergraduate: Evaluation of an educational intervention].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  From June to November 2013 an elective subject "The doctor before death" was held in a public medical school. The aim of this report is to assess the achievement of the objectives of this course.
  
  
  METHODS
  The main objectives of the course were to develop competences, aptitude for reflection before death and encourage changes in attitude towards it. Each session was preceded by an article on the content; during sessions the interaction with physicians and patients facing the approach of death was favored; audiovisual, computer resources were used and conducted discussions. The evaluation of the course was a retrospective questionnaire as a quantitative source, and semi structured interviews and essays as qualitative sources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The development of competences, aptitude for reflection about death and attitude changes showed an increase after the intervention (p < 0.01); competence development had the smallest increase. With qualitative information 11 categories were integrated; all showed positive changes in attitude towards death, aptitude for reflection and developed competences (although in this respect the impact was minor).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The educational intervention evaluated met the objectives, however, for a future intervention is necessary to reinforce competence development.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Distrito Federal, México. asun57@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Asunción
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Álvarez-del Río
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Torruco-García
authors.forename: José Daniel
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Morales-Castillo
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varela-Ruiz
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Death; Evaluation; Medical students; Mexico; Terminal care