Stage | Description |
|---|---|
1. | Introductory session focused on building rapport and relational trust between researcher and participants |
2. | Formation of emotional safety, increasing receptiveness to workshop content |
3. | Introduction to, and initial unfolding of, workshop themes |
4. | Engagement in artistic activity to activate im |
5. | Activation of reflective and critical thought processes; facilitators remain attuned and responsive to the emotions elicited by participants |
6. | Completion of art activity and preparation for group discussion |
7. | Researchers and participants re-convene into a discussion circle |
8. | Participants voluntarily share their artistic creation and reflections with their peers |
9. | Group engages in reflective dialogue, guided by prepared philosophical questions that connect participants’ artwork to the broader workshop theme |
10. | Collaboration broadens participants’ perspectives, supports emotional coping, and facilitates the reappraisal of the workshop theme’s meaning. |
| In this framework, art serves as a non-verbal creative medium that encourages children to externalize emotionally challenging subjects in a safe and accessible way. By first engaging their imagination and emotions through artistic expression, children become more emotionally grounded and open for further expansion on the explored idea(s). This in turn fosters an improved preparedness for PI, since participants are more emotionally grounded. By collaborating with their peers on sensitive subjects, participants can engage in deeper meaning-making, developing greater autonomy in their thinking, stronger connections with others, and a richer understanding of the topics explored. In our team’s related research, an intervention that combined arts and philosophy to explore themes of climate change and eco-anxiety with elementary school children was found to yield greater improvements in mental health scores compared to an art-only group (Malboeuf-Hurtubise et al., 2025). These findings provide early evidence for the value of integrating art and philosophy to support children’s mental health when navigating emotionally complex topics, such as death. | |
| Study Aim | |
| Building on a research gap suggesting that children need safe and brave spaces to openly explore questions and concerns relating to death, this pilot study aimed to provide children with such a space. The research questions guiding the study was: What are children’s perceptions of an arts-based existential intervention to navigate questions, feelings, and concerns pertaining to death? In doing so, we hoped to contribute to the existing clinical child psychology literature by qualitatively investigating how a developmentally adapted, creative, and dialogical workshops benefitted––or not––a group of children exploring existential concerns related to death. | |
| Methods | |
| Participants | |
| For this study, children from two sixth-grade classrooms in an elementary school in Quebec, Canada, were recruited (n = 21; Mage 11.5; grade 6), along with their visual arts and movement teacher. Due to an ongoing research partnership in place between the research team and the school, a convenience sampling method was used to recruit participants. According to Longbottom & Slaughter (2018), children at this developmental stage are expected to approach a holistic understanding of death (i.e., universality, irreversibility, biological cessation, etc.), while simultaneously being curious to discuss it more. Participants were provided with opportunities to think, discuss, and learn about death through a combination of ABIs and PI activities. When participants had questions about death, they were encouraged to ask them within a framework that was open, welcoming, and supportive. | |
| Beyond enhancing participants’ understanding of death, the intervention aimed to create an environment that acknowledged and welcomed the thoughts and emotions elicited by discussions on death and bereavement. The interventions were designed to be emotionally validating, inviting participants to express feelings evoked during the activities. Both of the two workshops provided participants with opportunities not only to explore ideas and questions about death, but also to engage in a collaborative process that fostered mutual support and validation. | |
| Intervention | |
| Development of Themes and Activities | |
| The intervention was collaboratively designed and developed by a licensed child psychologist (CMH), two master’s students in psychology (ZF and MG), and a researcher experienced in facilitating art-based workshops (AM). A multidisciplinary team of co-authors with expertise in education, philosophy, health sciences and clinical psychology reviewed the intervention and its findings to ensure a comprehensive approach was used. | |
| This project was part of a broader 10-week workshop that explored various mental health themes (e.g., safe spaces, self-care, caring for nature, belonging, emotions) through multiple art mediums, including fine arts, dance-movement, and photovoice. Sessions were held once a week for 60 minutes during school hours. Semi-structured interviews with students and their teacher were conducted two weeks after the broader intervention concluded. The partnering school and school board permitted workshops on death under the condition that a maximum of two sessions would be dedicated to this topic to avoid overwhelming participants. As such, the preceding 7 workshops were designed to (1) explore other themes of and experiences related to mental health, and (2) emotionally prepare participants for the workshops on death. Participants occasionally discussed topics of death and grief with the researchers in previous workshops out of anticipation for it being more thoroughly addressed in weeks 8 and 9. For example, in week 7, participants described their fear of death as resulting in some negative emotions, including anxiety. | |
| All death-focused workshops were led by a master’s student (ZF) and facilitated by another master’s student (MG) using an arts-based existential intervention framework, along with a research assistant recording observational notes. Clinical supervision was provided by a licensed child psychologist (CMH). For further details on the full 10-week intervention plan, please refer to the supplemental materials section. | |
| First Intervention: Personal Mortality | |
| The initial workshop addressed the theme of “personal mortality”, prompting participants to explore their own understanding of death. The session began with a brief introduction outlining the purpose of the activity and an emotional trigger warning to ensure a supportive environment. | |
| Students then engaged in a creative arts activity, creating watercolor paintings to reflect their initial thoughts and emotions surrounding death. This approach allowed them to engage with the topic at their own pace. After 20–25 minutes, participants gathered for a PI on personal mortality. Example discussion questions included: (1) What is death? (2) What happens when we die? (3) If you could choose, would you want to live forever? Why or why not? The discussion was semi-structured, providing flexibility for spontaneous reflections and allowing students to explore existential meanings related to death. | |
| Following the 20-minute PI, students revisited their artwork and developed it further into a scrapbook. They were encouraged to add drawings, writings, or pasted elements inspired by the discussion. This activity promoted creative self-expression while reinforcing the themes discussed. Several participants chose to include quotes from the conversation in their scrapbooks, accompanied by additional drawings and colors. | |
| Second Intervention: Bereavement | |
| The second workshop shifted to the focus to how participants navigated the death of others, or how they managed feelings of bereavement. The session began with a reflection on the universality of death and revisited key themes from the previous workshop to provide continuity and reinforce the purpose of these discussions. Like the first session, this discussion was semi-structured, allowing participants to shape the conversation with their own perspectives. | |
| The central question posed was: “Can death be beautiful?” Students were encouraged to explore this idea artistically. To do so, they created clay sculptures (using Play-Doh ™) representing what they envisioned as a beautiful death. Those who did not perceive death as beautiful were invited to sculpt something that symbolized their own perspective on the topic. This artistic component lasted approximately 25 minutes. | |
| Following this, students reconvened for another PI discussion on death and bereavement. Example questions included: (1) Why do we grieve? (2) How can someone be kept in our hearts after they die? Like the first intervention, these discussions aimed to explore existential meanings of death, while also exploring the potential beauty within it. The semi-structured format ensured flexibility in validating all emotions expressed during the conversation. | |
| Data Collection | |
| A combined deductive and inductive approach was used to ensure data collection remained both objective (e.g., photographs of the artistic pieces, recordings) and interpretive (e.g., interviews, observation grids). This method allowed for a holistic representation of participants’ voices within our qualitative analysis. | |
| Artwork | |
| Photographs were taken of participants’ artistic creations, which included watercolor paintings, clay sculptures, and scrapbooks. Each artwork was assigned a unique identification number to maintain confidentiality of the participants. Each artifact was not systematically analyzed or included as part of the broader coding process, but rather, was collected for the purposes of providing illustrative examples on some of the creations participants made during the workshops. These selected examples illustrate how participants’ creations reflected and aligned with the themes identified in our qualitative analysis | |
| Examples of artwork are provided in the supplementary materials section. | |
| Interviews | |
| Two weeks after the intervention concluded, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 students individually and privately, lasting between 15–45 minutes. These interviews––which were conducted in the absence of their teachers to minimize social desirability bias––aimed to assess their overall impressions of the workshops and their evolving perceptions of death and bereavement. Additionally, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the students’ visual arts and movement teacher via Microsoft Teams to gather insights into their observations of the students’ experiences and whether they perceived the workshops as beneficial in helping students conceptualize death and bereavement. | |
| Further details on the interview format can be made available upon request. | |
| Group Discussions | |
| Throughout the intervention, PI group-based discussions were conducted. All discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed, and anonymized to ensure participant confidentiality. | |
| Observation Grids | |
| Observational data was also gathered by an observer (undergraduate research assistant) present at each session, who recorded participants’ non-verbal reactions, overall engagement, and group interactions throughout the activities. This method of data collection was primarily utilized to mitigate potential outcomes of social desirability bias during interviews, where participants may have over-exaggerated positive impacts of the intervention when in the presence of the researchers. | |
| Analysis | |
| All interviews and discussions were transcribed by research assistants and coded using a thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Open and inductive coding was applied using MAXQDA24 to identify preliminary themes and insights regarding participants’ responses to the intervention. | |
| To ensure the validity and reliability of the initial codes, two researchers from the team (CMH & AM) reviewed and refined them. To further minimize researcher bias, the first author (ZF) collaborated with two additional research assistants who conducted independent open coding. Once all codes were synthesized, common themes were compiled into a single coding tree. Key thematic examples were structured into a table, supported by direct quotes from both participants and the classroom teacher. | |
| Results | |
| Thematic analysis revealed two overarching themes: negative reactions to the workshops, and appreciation of the workshops. Within these broader theme, sub-themes such as fostering empathy, encouraging emotional expression, and shifts in perspective on death emerged. These sub-themes are examined in detail in this section, which were derived by quotes from participants and their teacher. In this next section, we provide an account of the findings anchored by our data collection. A visual representation of the study’s themes and sub-themes are also found below in Table 3. | |
Overarching Theme | Sub-themes | Summary of theme |
|---|---|---|
1. Negative reactions to the workshops | -- | Participants both conveyed and expressed feelings of anxiety when prompted by the intervention, which may have been fueled by anxiety towards the explored themes. |
2. Appreciation for the workshops | 1. Encouraging emotional expression | Participants expressed an appreciation for being encouraged by the workshop to express their feelings elicited by the subject of death. |
2. Fostering empathy | By engaging in creative reflection and collaborative group dialogues, students reported relating to their peers on a deeper level, including with those they are not normally on amicable terms with. | |
3. Shifts in perspectives on death | Through artistic creation and group philosophical inquiry, participants later reported during interviews that this process fostered a positive shift in attitude towards death, primarily stating how reminders of mortality fosters both enhanced meaning of, and appreciation for, life itself. | |
| Negative Reactions to the Workshops | ||
| As the team anticipated may occur, the workshops were met with some negative emotional reactions by participants, often conveying or outright expressing anxiety. Indeed, the teacher was also not surprised by this reaction, elaborating: “when we had the first part…they were all like, too closed up, and they would not participate. And even the body language was shock. They just cloaked” (teacher). Observational data also noted a similar reaction; participants attempted to avoid or flee the workshops by deflecting ideas and questions with humor or dismissing the importance of speaking vulnerably on sensitive topics. Other students also verbalized their negative reaction to the intervention by questioning the purpose of the workshops with total apprehension: “can we like, do something happier this week?” (student). Others, conversely, decided to physically evade the workshops: “I don’t know, I just started feeling sad, so I left [the group discussion]” (student). In this way, beyond lacking a positive reaction to the workshop, some students reported feeling negatively impacted by the workshops in that they experienced greater anxiety and overall discomfort. | ||
| Despite this negative reaction, both the teacher and participants were comfortable discussing this topic during post-intervention interviews. In asking one student what precipitated their discomfort, one student explained: “during the activities, it was a little bit nerve wracking because you’re not used to talking about these subjects [death] just in your normal day life. So, like doing this was a little bit like nervous. I was a little nervous. And I could see it in my friends, too” (student). This participant seemed to explain that their discomfort––though it was indeed evoked by our workshop––was more reflective of a cultural tendency to evade these discussions in the first place. Numerous participants described feeling burdened with death anxiety prior to our workshops: “but you know… when I thought about that, I was like, like I didn’t even know what it was called. So, you know, I was pacing around my room”, student; “I, to process it, I just like, think about it and like, also just try to calm myself down. I just like, understand, just start to find something to distract me” (student). This could be partly explained by the teacher’s belief that their students have had prior experiences with death: “I think some, they either had a grandparent or an animal [die]…I don’t think everyone has had to go through this, but I think they thought about it, yes” (teacher). Within these verbalizations, the workshops may have revealed discomforts around death are an unavoidable aspect of life, and in varying degrees, it may take hold during childhood. | ||
| This apprehension was not only reflected by our student participants, however. Indeed, this discomfort was also shown by the classroom teacher. In our initial discussions of planning these workshops, the researchers observed signs of apprehension towards openly addressing death concerns with students. After the workshops, in our interview with this same teacher, they still felt some degree of uncertainty regarding their role in navigating these topics. | ||
| I think it’s hard because we don’t know. If they approach us [about death], then we’ll know. “Oh, their grandfather is in the hospital right now”, or whatever, but it’s not some...unless the parents e-mail us, or the kids let us know, we don’t always know, or we don’t always know their background. So, it’s hard. Like it could be very tricky to start talking about this and be blindsided by what someone is living. Say...they’re not ready to discuss it or they’re not equipped to discuss it––it’s not something that I was ever inclined to discuss with my students (teacher). | ||
| As revealed in this quote, there was an apprehension for this teacher to discuss death openly with students with two concerns in mind: (1) they questioned whether the appropriateness of leading such dialogues is context-dependent, and (2) they expressed concern over worsening a potentially fragile situation. | ||
| Despite the negative reactions expressed by both the participants and the teacher, those who participated in post-intervention interviews attested to their support for our workshops. In the sections below, we will elaborate on the ways in which some apprehension manifested into appreciation. | ||
| Appreciation for the Workshops | ||
| Although some participants expressed a negative emotional reaction to the workshops, it was during the interviews with some students and the teacher that the intervention received extensive positive feedback. During a post-intervention interview with the teacher, they succinctly captured the impact of the workshops on their students: | ||
| They didn’t know how to initially approach it [death]. I think it [workshops] gave them the tools to say what they needed to, and it helped them connect with each other. Also, seeing their friends be vulnerable [was impactful] (teacher). | ||
| In the following sections, we will analyze this quote through the lens of three key sub-themes. The teacher’s observation that students “didn’t know how to initially approach” the topic reflects the presence of Negative Reactions, which was explored in the previous section. Aside from this central theme, however, the workshops importantly provided students with the necessary Encouragement of Emotional Expression, equipping them with tools to articulate their thoughts and feelings about death. Additionally, by expressing themselves openly, the connections formed between students during the workshops illustrated its potentiality for Fostering Empathy. Lastly, by listening and connecting with each other during philosophical discussions, this led participants to having a Shift in Perspective on Death. | ||
| Encouraging Emotional Expression | ||
| Aside from some participants expressing negative reactions, others expressed appreciation for the workshops as a space to openly share their emotions about death. As one participant plainly stated, “for me it was definitely good because, you know, I got to share stuff. I just felt like talking about death helped people [in] like an emotional state” (student). Some acknowledged that being reminded of death brought up painful memories: “people were more sad, kind of remembering what happened in their past” (student). Another participant expressed a similar experience: “it made me feel sad because I never really... I’ve only felt it like three or four times, so I’m not really used to it, so it kind of just made me sad to think about my great-grand-parents that died” (student). participants nonetheless valued the opportunity to openly express their emotions, as it provided a sense of relief: “I just think of it, and like, let my emotions out instead of keeping it in. It’s not good to keep it in” (student). Having these opportunities was meaningful because it reassured students that they were not alone in their experiences of loss and grief. One participant reflected on a personal memory where being comforted by others left a significant, and clearly lasting impact: “when my papa [father] died, I heard about it, and I was supposed to go to a party. And everyone there was like comforting me… and they just really made me feel okay” (student). For many participants, the chance to express these emotions was rare, making the workshops particularly valuable to them. One participant highlighted the art component as an accessible and satisfying outlet: “for some people art is their way of talking. Like when we do art, we draw what’s on our mind. And when we do that, we express it on paper” (student). The classroom teacher, unaware that a student had expressed this sentiment, nonetheless echoed the same belief: “it gave them the space to… sometimes they won’t have the words to express themselves. And so, I feel like art was a good way [to explore these feelings] because it gave them… yeah, freedom. I don’t even have the words. More room to express themselves in only words you know” (teacher). | ||
| Fostering Empathy | ||
| Beyond providing an outlet for personal expression, the workshops also fostered a sense of connection between some participants, allowing them to witness and respond to each other’s emotions with empathy (i.e., the ability to understand, feel, and share another person’s emotional experience; Cuff et al., 2016). Although we initially sought to understand students’ perspectives on the value of discussing death, an unexpected yet dominant theme emerged in our analysis: the belief that these discussions actively promoted empathy between participants. Of all the coded themes, fostering empathy was the most frequently referenced, highlighting how participants saw value in witnessing each other’s shared vulnerability towards death. This pattern was observed by students in their classmates during and after discussions: “when we would talk about death, it made people sad, and I just wanted to be more respectful so that people didn’t feel worse that some of their family died” (student). In a separate interview, another participant drew a similar conclusion: “yeah, when we were gonna talk about death, it’s really emotional and a topic that you have to be respectful of because you don’t wanna hurt anyone’s feelings about it” (student). Importantly, participants also appreciated observing how their classmates perceived and treated them in moments of greater vulnerability: “Well, when we were talking about death, I felt like they respected me a bit more because I had something to say and I had an experience, so they listened to what I had to say” (student). Although the concept of empathy can be developmentally challenging for children to conceptualize, one participant demonstrated a clear understanding of its meaning within the context of navigating grief: “yeah, because my friend, h-h-her grandma died. And so, it was sad for the week that we were talking about death. So, like, I felt empathy for her” (student). | ||
| These findings of increased empathy were particularly noteworthy, given the history of interpersonal conflict within the group. Some participants privately disclosed their experiences with bullying and strained relationships with classmates. Prior to the workshops on death, earlier sessions (weeks 1–7) had frequently been marked by instances of disrespect and lack of consideration among students (e.g., interrupting each other during group discussion, mocking targeted students, etc.). However, despite these prior communication barriers, participants––regardless of their past conflicts with each other––displayed empathy towards not only their friends, but also those they had previously clashed with. When asked about what they believed prompted this shift in classroom dynamics, the teacher reflected: | ||
| I think they [the students] saw the others showing vulnerability. Vulnerabilities and they became more tolerant. Seeing others say struggles or especially when we talked about death, and some had lost someone close to them. I think at the beginning they didn’t know how to react to their friends. Having emotions and showing their emotions that they didn’t think they would (teacher). | ||
| In essence, exploring a deeply vulnerable topic allowed some participants to express their honest thoughts and emotions without concealment. Likewise, witnessing vulnerability in classmates––especially among those who typically maintained a tough exterior mirage––revealed a more sensitive and delicate side of their peers, thus challenging their preexisting assumptions of them while also fostering improved empathy in the process. | ||
| Shifts in Perspectives on Death | ||
| Aside from our workshops providing a safe space to openly explore the emotions that are commonly elicited by death, participants also reported finding the sessions thought-provoking, with both the art and discussion segments prompting personal reflection on the meaning of death. One participant mentioned that the busyness of everyday school life had previously prevented them from deeply reflecting on these topics. It wasn’t until they had time alone after the workshop that they could truly contemplate the interventions’ impact and the deeper meaning in what was said. During interviews, one participant alluded to the value in using art to further hone their perspective on death: “the art activity…it changed all our mindset. So, we could draw whatever we liked and what we thought about it [death] more” (student). Other participants found value in having discussions to refine their perspectives: observational data showed that during these artistic segments, most participants engaged in conversations, sharing their interpretations and knowledge about death. Despite observational data noting apprehension during group discussions, they used this time to listen to each other’s viewpoints, as one participant highlighted: “everybody had a different point of view. Some people were like, ‘oh, death is scary, that’s scary’. Other people were like, ‘it’s okay, we all have to die one day’” (student). Some participants initially perceived death as entirely negative, but participating in these discussions resulting in them reframing it as potential relief for those who are suffering: | ||
| I understood that some people…kill themselves so that they don’t have to live through the pain that they’re going through. So, if someone has cancer and it got really bad, then they would choose to die so they don’t have to live in pain anymore (student). | ||
| This shift in perspective led participants to view death not only as a negative event or just as a form of relief, but also as something meaningful and potentially beautiful: “Because it is the one thing that’s for sure gonna happen. You know that we’re all gonna die. I think it made them realize that it can be beautiful” (teacher). | ||
| Discussion | ||
| The purpose of this study was to better understand children’s perceptions of an arts-based existential intervention for navigating their questions, feelings, and concerns pertaining to death. Following a thematic analysis, results of this pilot study indicated that while participants initially had a negative emotional reaction in response to the arts-based existential intervention, they later expressed appreciation for the opportunity to openly reflect on and discuss themes related to death. In this discussion section, we contextualize the significance of these findings by drawing from relevant literature that may rationalize each of the themes that arose from the workshops. | ||
| Negative Reactions to the Workshop | ||
| Our findings revealed that children initially approached the workshops with hesitation, emotional discomfort, and avoidance. In some cases, a small portion of participants stepped away from the group discussion and went into the workshop’s allocated safe space, so to re-collect themselves and evade any discomforts provoked by the intervention. This reaction was––to some extent––expected; referring to Pascal’s theory of inquietude, individuals may conceal their discomfort around an issue and subsequently engage in the constant endeavor of diverting themselves from that stressor, which may translate into an intense agitation (i.e., overt anxiety) when these attempts at repression have failed (Duclos, 2013). Research has also indicated that younger individuals are typically found to harbour greater covert death anxiety, and its overt expression becomes more dominant as they grow older, likely as reminders of human mortality becomes less avoidable (Galt & Hayslip, 1998). In the case of our participants, death likely took on the initial form of covert anxiety, and our workshops may have confronted their discomforts in a way that led to an overt expression of anxiety, thus resulting in the negative emotional reaction towards the intervention. | ||
| Within the theoretical framework of existential psychology, death is frequently understood as a central source of the anxieties inherent to human existence. Anxiety, according to May (1977), can be theorized as “the experience of Being affirming itself against Nonbeing”, meaning that anxiety manifests when an individual recognizes the threat that death imposes on their desire to live freely and without restriction. To ensure oneself is protected against such psychological harm, anxiety takes on a covert form, with denial and avoidance being common defensive responses to this existential threat (Becker, 1972; Solomon et al., 2015). Expanding on Becker’s (1973) argument that humans unconsciously structure their lives around a perpetual denial of death, Greenberg and colleagues (1986) developed Terror Management Theory (TMT) to explain the various psychological and cultural mechanisms that protect themselves against this threat. Indeed, our tendency to evade thoughts of mortality can be reinforced, for example, by cultural and religious traditions, such as beliefs in an afterlife, which may provide one with a sense of symbolic immortality. Afterlife speculation was a recurring topic during this study’s group discussions. Our study revealed not only that children have mortality salience (i.e., an awareness of their own mortality; Burke et al., 2010), but also that, like adults, they employ various strategies to minimize existential threats. This was evident both in the ways participants avoided engaging in discussions about death and in the content of the conversations among those who did participate. For participants who reported negative experiences with the workshops, these reactions may reflect conditioned behaviors—specifically, the tendency of adults to shield children from discussions on mortality (Slaughter & Griffith, 2007). While it remains entirely possible that our workshops had a limited capacity to foster positive outcomes, such negative reactions from participants may also be better understood as products of cultural conditioning around the taboo of death. | ||
| While concerns about children’s psychological well-being and safety should not be overlooked in this study, there is also reason to suggest that engaging with such uncomfortable topics also holds therapeutic value. Returning to May (1977), he contended that having optimal mental health required that we learn not only how to accept anxiety as an unavoidable part of life, but that we also learn how to live with and embrace aspects of it, as it can often times foster personal growth and emotional intelligence. Similarly, Kierkegaard (1844) argued that anxiety is the most important human experience to have, precisely because it is one of the few methods that fosters improved self-understanding and growth. | ||
| Learning to know anxiety is an adventure which every man has to affront if he would not go to perdition either by not having known anxiety or by sinking under it. He therefore who has learned rightly to be anxious, has learned the most important thing. | ||
| Notably, Kierkegaard––like many philosophers––viewed death as being the most fundamental concern leading to anxiety. Freud (1917), who strongly advocated for investigating “unconscious” (i.e., covert) concerns, similarly argued that exploring the meaning of our anxiety force us to confront a range of converging questions about our existence, thus illuminating “a riddle whose solution would be bound to throw a flood of light of our whole mental existence”. More recent existential psychologists, such as Schneider (2023), argued that experiencing this form of anxiety is also what we may need more of, so that we can be better informed on how to make both mindful and careful choices in life. | ||
| With this in consideration, coupled with previous studies suggesting that, like adults, children navigate existential anxiety (Puskas et al., 2023), the anxiety revealed by participants in this study was likely reflective of an unresolved search for meaning in death. This finding is particularly relevant for parents, teachers, and clinicians, as children are rarely provided with opportunities to openly explore existential questions (Zanetti, 2020). When these questions remain unaddressed, children’s existential concerns may intensify, potentially heightening feelings of death anxiety and increasing the risk for the later development of psychopathologies, such as depression and anxiety disorders (Menzies et al., 2024). It is therefore essential that researchers continue exploring effective ways to support children in engaging with existential themes. Rather than silencing or pathologizing such reflections, educators and clinicians should welcome children’s questions and feelings, creating space for meaning making in the face of death. | ||
| Appreciation of the Workshops | ||
| Participants also responded positively to the intervention. Grounded in Arts-Based Existential Interventions, our workshops provided tools to help participants reconcile some of the anxieties they expressed around death. Prior research has shown that engaging in thematically rich philosophical discussions about life and death can foster meaning-making by clarifying existential concerns (e.g., fear of meaninglessness or isolation), building resilience to inevitable realities, and ultimately, embracing impermanence (Phan et al., 2025). Accordingly, these scholars recommended that death education—particularly when guided by “existential” inquiry—should be more widely integrated into pedagogical settings, so to strengthen children’s resilience in coping with the notion of impermanence. Our intervention offers one potential model for such an implementation into elementary school curricula. | ||
| In the following subsections, we elaborate on the overarching theme of participants’ appreciation for the intervention, focusing on three keyways they described benefitting from it: encouragement of emotional expression, fostering empathy, and shifts in perspective on death. | ||
| Encouragement of Emotional Expression | ||
| One potential theory underlying participants’ positive reception towards this intervention lied in their enhanced ability to emotionally express their thoughts and feelings on death. Indeed, participants utilized both philosophical discussion and artistic expression to thoroughly process their emotions surrounding death. Research supports art creation as an outlet for articulating and processing difficult emotions––whether through verbal communication or artistic mediums (Pennebaker, 1997). These methods can in turn foster improved coping and distress management, which participants also described experiencing in the workshops during post-intervention interviews. May (1975) particularly advocated for embracing artistic creation as a means to reconcile existential anxiety: | ||
| Creative people, as I see them, are distinguished by the fact that they can live with anxiety, even though a high price may be paid in terms of insecurity, sensitivity, and defenselessness … They do not run away from non-being, but by encountering and wrestling with it, force it to produce being. They knock on silence for an answering music; they pursue meaninglessness until they can force it to mean. | ||
| Although May does not exclusively focus on children in his analysis, it is nonetheless a highly applicable statement. Given that children are found to be inherently more authentic (Rogers, 1951), and that authenticity is positively correlated with higher creativity levels (Xu et al., 2021), children for this reason are likely to benefit from artistically exploring their concerns around sensitive issues, such as death. In this study, the courage of participants to creatively “wrestle” (May, 1975) with their thoughts and feelings on death may have enabled them to reconcile its commonly associated anxiety (Becker, 1973). Our findings are thus largely consistent with May’s (1975) contention that allocating spaces for creativity and reflection are critical processes required for helping individuals reconcile their concerns related to non-being. Arts-based existential interventions, in other words, appeared as one such approach suitable for facilitating this process. | ||
| Camus’ (1942) intersecting analysis of philosophy and art in The myth of Sisyphus provides further explanation on why artistic expression played a critical role in our intervention. Art was described by Camus as a rebellious response to the absurd, arguing that it enables individuals to impose structure on an otherwise chaotic and inherently meaningless universe. Among those who expressed a negative emotional reaction to the workshops, making an artistic creation and subsequently reflecting on it with others may have enabled them to transcend their anxiety and find meaning in death. Recent psychological research has also suggested that engaging with artistic exhibits on death can help improve life appreciation and reduce avoidance around the subject (Das et al., 2024). The impact of ABIs for reconciling death concerns are also found to be applicable to children in other previous research: studies by Testoni et al. (2019) have found that employing various forms of artistic activities––such as Bibliodrama, youth literature, photovoice, and theater –– to be impactful for treating child death anxiety. Art therefore serves not just as a passive outlet for emotional expression, but more importantly can be conceptualized as a means to foster meaningful engagement on existential issues, thereby prompting children to process mortality in a way that feels more accessible to them. Further supporting this finding, Beaumont (2013) also advocated for the integration of ABIs into mental health treatments focused on meaning-making in the context of death. Arguing that these creative methods offer individuals a unique space to explore existential questions, process grief, and confront mortality in a non-verbal manner, children are theorized to be better equipped to articulate complex emotions surrounding death, facilitating deeper insight into their personal life and fostering a sense of meaning and acceptance for potential grief they are faced with. | ||
| Fostering Empathy | ||
| As a result of promoting emotional expression during the intervention, our analysis also revealed how death discussions appeared to foster empathy among participants. Aligning with developmental research showing that perspective-taking and emotional sharing serve as precursors to empathetic behavior (Eisenberg & Strayer, 1987), Batson (1991) also found that empathy emerges when individuals witness the vulnerability of others, prompting a genuine desire to communicate humility and emotional support. From a neuroscientific perspective, Decety and Jackson (2004) suggested that witnessing distress in others can activate the mirror neuron system; thus, when witnessing vulnerability in others, the brain is compelled to elicit an emotional response that underlies empathic concern. In turn, the expression of concern likely enhances participants’ sense of feeling valued, and, importantly, of valuing others. Fernandez et al. (2025) suggested that well-being and social connection are fostered not only by expressing appreciation and value toward others, but also by feeling valued in return. This is particularly relevant for clinical contexts; for example, empathy art––that is, creative works aimed at increased reflection and validation of the lived experiences of individuals––helps children feel seen, heard, and better understood (Rollins et al., 2020). Our participants experienced this process in action: witnessing peers share personal experiences of loss appeared to dissolve previous social tensions––if only temporarily––and fostered a sense of emotional closeness. In these moments of mutual recognition and care, participants were not only given space to express their feelings, but also to feel understood by others––a process that may be essential for building relatedness between school children. | ||
| Furthermore, as participants stepped away from the group discussion to seek a calming, safe space, others were observed checking in on them with concern and emotional support. This could suggest that while discussions about death may have initially provoked negative emotional reactions and overall discomfort, they can also foster social cohesion and interpersonal relatedness––core tenets of human existence that are fundamental in satisfying our basic psychological needs (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Also consistent with existential-humanistic therapeutic practices, embracing one’s vulnerability in the face of death is viewed not only an act of courage, but also a catalyst for healing. Yalom (2008) suggested that confrontations with death––our ultimate shared vulnerability––can provide us improved clarity on how to live more urgently, authentically, and meaningfully. Rather than diminishing the presence of death, confrontations with death have the power to reorient our values, priorities, and foster improved mental health. For example, research consistently finds that individuals who undergo near-death experiences—such as surviving a serious illness or a life-threatening accident—subsequently report having reduced anxiety towards death, heightened self-esteem and mindfulness, and a tendency to interpret death as a transition rather than as a complete extinction (Bianco et al., 2019). | ||
| Shifts in Perspective on Death | ||
| Some participants also emphasized that openly and directly confronting death through art and PI led to a meaningful transformation in their thinking. Although existential questioning is likely to remain unresolved and persist throughout life (Tillich, 1952), participants recognized the value of engaging in these questions, rather than avoiding them. For example, in the initial stages of the intervention, many participants perceived death solely as a negative event. However, by the time post-intervention interviews were conducted, some perspectives had evolved. Whereas some continued to acknowledge death’s potentially distressing aspects, they no longer viewed it as purely negative. For some, it remained a symbol of the inherently cold indifference of the universe; for others, death came to represent a form of release from it. This shift in perception has clinical significance. In Quebec––a highly secularized region compared to other western regions––where this study was conducted, approximately 7% of all deaths occur through medical aid in dying (MAiD; Health Canada, 2022). This represents a significant proportion of deaths, many of which are likely to affect children––either directly or indirectly (e.g., through bereavement of grand-parents) ––within schools across the province. While we caution against generalizing these findings across cultural contexts, participants of this study viewed death as something that can be associated with relief. Indeed, they could be better equipped to cope with loss when they encounter it. By reframing death in a more nuanced way, children may experience less distress and subsequently develop more adaptive responses to certain experiences of grief. | ||
| Beyond viewing death just as a form of relief, some participants described it as beautiful precisely because life is temporary––recognizing that only finitude can imbue existence with urgency and meaning. In some instances, participants reflected on how death enhances the beauty of the natural world. One participant, for example, created a sculpture of a fossil and later explained how studying the remains of once-living creatures allows us to appreciate the world’s history and inherent beauty. Others emphasized how there is also beauty in the process of grief by bringing people together through shared vulnerability. | ||
| Although it may seem counterintuitive that the common fear of death could give rise to perceptions of beauty, literature increasingly supports this viewpoint. Recent research with youth, for example, has suggested that contemplating one’s small place within the immensity of the cosmic calendar can enhance well-being by instilling a sense of urgency to live fully and not take time for granted (Hornsey et al., 2025). Rather from solely eliciting anxiety or dread, such reflections can act as powerful catalysts for cultivating intention, presence, and a deeper appreciation for life. Also supporting this view, Frias et al. (2011) found that engaging in death reflections are associated with long-term feelings of gratitude for one’s existence. | ||
| While exploring the subject of death understandably was––and will likely continue remaining––an anxiety-inducing topic for participants, what emerged most clearly among our sample of participants is that life’s meaning, at minimum, is not diminished by its impermanence. More likely, it is temporality that enriches life’s value, which is thus what could compel us to live more mindfully, authentically, and meaningfully in the present. | ||
| Ethical Considerations | ||
| Approaching such sensitive workshops with ethical care is paramount when leading these interventions. While our findings suggest that participants’ mental health was positively supported by the workshops, it is essential to acknowledge the potentiality for some students to respond negatively to them. Indeed, individual differences and lived experiences of participants may have shaped their overall perception of, and reaction to, the workshops. We acknowledge that death is not something to be romanticized, as it inevitably consists of pain and suffering. For example, some students did not view death as beautiful, but rather, as an ugly occurrence due to a traumatic experience they previously had. In this way, ensuring that safeguards and ethical considerations are in place throughout such workshops remains critical. | ||
| To ensure that children are supported through these workshops with heightened sensitivity, it is of the upmost importance that such interventions are conducted in collaboration with school personnel (psychologists, counsellors, teachers and principals), who best understand their students. Furthermore, these interventions must always be approached with compassion and sensitivity to students’ emotional needs. Drawing from Sharp’s (2004) care-centered framework for philosophical inquiry, our approach emphasizes the importance of building trust between researchers and participants. With respect to the positive outcomes of this research, these results may also be partially explained by the role of rapport building during the workshops. Indeed, the researchers sought to build trust with participants, which likely played a significant role in determining their overall reception and openness towards the workshops. However, this favourable outcome could also present a potential limitation: the risk of social desirability bias, whereby participants may have felt inclined to highlight positive aspects of their experience, while also minimizing negative ones. This bias can be particularly salient when discussing sensitive topics shaped by prevailing social norms and representations, such as emotions, death, or environmental concerns. To mitigate this concern, we regularly sought throughout the broader 10-week intervention to create a psychologically safe environment in which children were encouraged to express themselves authentically. We casually interacted with participants outside of workshops and engaged in selective self-disclosure to reveal our personable side. While we acknowledge that social desirability cannot be entirely eliminated—particularly as our working relationship strengthened over the 10-week intervention—we consistently reminded participants of the importance of sharing all perspectives, including negative feedback. Although children are often inclined to share their thoughts and feelings authentically (Rogers, 1951), this framing was intended to minimize any perceived pressure to provide expected responses. | ||
| This study received approval from the Bishop’s University Research Ethics Board (REB) on December 30th, 2023, File #102681. | ||
| Strengths and Limitations | ||
| A key strength of this pilot study was in its exploration of existential questions––topics that children are naturally inclined to ponder but rarely given the opportunity to discuss. By integrating artistic creation with philosophical inquiry, we engaged both the verbal and non-verbal dimensions of children’s reflections on death through an extended intervention. This dual approach fostered a holistic development of their emotional and intellectual engagement with mortality, demonstrating the potential of arts-based existential interventions to make complex existential themes accessible and meaningful. | ||
| However, this study is not without limitations. First, the intervention was relatively short, consisting of two 60-minute workshops over two weeks. While participants described how these sessions meaningfully refined their attitudes toward death, they likely would have required additional time to sustain meaningful effects from the intervention. This limitation, however, was imposed by school administrators, who requested that the workshops on death were limited to two sessions, so to minimize any potential distress among the students. Furthermore, given the pilot nature of this study and its aim of understanding the impact of an arts- and philosophy-based intervention on children’s perceptions of death, the findings should be regarded as preliminary evidence that may inform the design and evaluation of future, more extended interventions on death. | ||
| Second, while qualitative research does not aim to achieve generalizability to broader populations, these findings should be interpreted with caution, as they only aim to reflect the perceptions and lived experiences of an English-speaking group of elementary school in the province of Quebec. Finally, sociodemographic information beyond ethnicity, age, and gender was not collected in this study. | ||
| Future Research | ||
| With these strengths and limitations in mind, several directions for future research are proposed. First, to enhance the methodological rigour of future studies, researchers could incorporate a pre- and post-intervention death anxiety scale alongside qualitative interviews to better measure changes across time. Second, given the accessibility of these workshops, future research could examine the feasibility and practicality of teachers implementing them independently within their own classrooms. This could include investigating the settings, conditions, and types of support that best enable teachers to facilitate such workshops effectively, thereby contributing to the development of a simplified toolkit that includes a death-themed artistic creation guide. Third, researchers could explore how children’s perceptions of death vary across cultures, particularly in regions where death may be approached with different attitudes and traditions (e.g., Asia). Fourth, the positive outcomes described by participants in this pilot study justifies further research investigating the feasibility of an expanded intervention on death that engages children on additional existential themes, such as meaning in life and identity. Fifth, although recent research from our team has demonstrated that art-and-philosophy-based groups are more effective than art-only groups in addressing related existential themes such as eco-anxiety (Malboeuf-Hurtubise et al., 2025), future studies should continue to include these comparison groups to further substantiate the synergistic effects of arts-based existential approaches in the specific context of death-related workshops. Taken together, these proposals for future research underscore the importance of examining developmentally appropriate, reflective spaces that empower children to engage with life’s most profound questions. | ||