We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Metaphysical Beliefs and Experiences Among Physician Trainees: An Exploratory Study.
- Authors
Schmit, Jessica M.; Meyer, Lynne E.
- Abstract
Metaphysical experiences are those that do not seem to have a biochemical explanation. Examples include near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, shared-death experiences, and after-death communication. In this study, we sought to explore the incidence of metaphysical experiences among a group of physician trainees at a large university-affiliated medical school. We explored physician trainees' beliefs about the nature of these experiences as well as the affect of these experiences on trainees' care of patients nearing the end of life. With a response rate of 22.2%, our sample consisted of 60 females and 86 males, the majority (94.5%) aged 25 to 39 years, with race/ethnicities 75.7% White/Caucasian, 18.5% Asian, 5.7% Hispanic/Latino, 2.1% Black/African American, and 2.8% other. We found that metaphysical experiences were common among our participants, with a third of our sample reporting they have had, or may have had, a metaphysical experience. In addition, half of physician trainees reported that a patient had told them about a metaphysical experience. We found that physician trainees were very open to non-materialist models of explanation for these experiences, with over 75% of our sample being open to transcendental explanations. Finally, we found that physicians trainees who reported prior metaphysical experiences were significantly more likely to feel comfortable taking care of dying patients.
- Subjects
NEAR-death experiences; ASTRAL projection; PHYSICIANS; MEDICAL schools; ETHNICITY; AFRICAN American physicians; METAPHYSICS
- Publication
Journal of Near-Death Studies, 2020, Vol 38, Issue 3, p137
- ISSN
0891-4494
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.17514/jnds-2020-38-3-p137-156.