Evaluation of attitudes and opinions of medical faculty students against the use of cadaver in anatomy education and investigation of the factors affecting their emotional responses related thereto.

INTRODUCTION: The encounter with the cadaver is one of the few experiences that have a profound effect on the educational life of the medical students. The objective of this study was to investigate medical student's attitudes and opinions towards the use of cadaver in anatomy education, as well as the factors affecting the emotional reactions they demonstrate in their repeated encounter with the cadaver.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Before the study, ethics committee approval for the study was obtained from the Gaziantep University Clinical Researches Ethical Committee (decision date and number: 2016/40). Two different questionnaires were administered to 351 students who participated in the study. Questionnaire-I was administered before the student's first encounter with the cadaver, whereas Questionnaire-II was administered twice, one after student's first encounter with the cadaver and the other after student's fifth encounter with the cadaver.
RESULTS: The females got significantly more excited before their first encounter with the cadaver, and that they felt more fear and more sadness for the cadaver (p = 0.001, p = 0.002, and p = 0.019, respectively). On the other hand, the males felt significantly readier to see the cadaver (p = 0.002). It was found that statements of emotional shock, excitement, sadness, and fear coming from the participants decreased significantly after their fifth encounter with the cadaver (p = 0.028, p = 0.001, p = 0.048, and p = 0.039, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Repeated encounters with cadavers were found to have reduced the negative emotions felt by the students, but have negatively affected the thoughts of the students in respect of donating their bodies.