SS 476 - Death and Dying

• Identify his/her attitudes regarding death and dying
• Develop an awareness regarding anticipatory loss and grief
• Review society’s decisions regarding terminal care and health care resource allocation

• None 

• Introduction (1 class)
• Attitudes toward death (1 class)
• Pattern of death and dying: then and now Displacement of death from the home (1 class)
• Expressions of attitudes toward death: Language, humor, mass media, music, literature, visual arts (1 class)
• Pioneers in death studies: The rise of death education, the response to AIDS (1 class)
• Perspectives on death: cross cultural and historical Death in early and traditonal cultures, death and dying in western culture; four cultural case studies: Native American, African American, Mexican American and Japanese American traditions (2 classes)
• Break class into groups for projects (1 class)
• Terminal illness-pain and suffering Reactions of the terminally ill, family reactions, Grief: the reaction to loss, Hospice (1 class)
• Knowing when to stop: A cross-cultural perspective to the funeral ritual, What is a living will? Power of Attorney (2 classes)
• Guest speaker-Oncologists’ perspective (1 class)
• Guest speaker-Nurse Clinician (1 class)
• Test (1 class)
• It is important to talk about the end of life (1 class)
• Guest speaker-The perspective of a medical ethicist (2 classes)
• Guest speaker-The perspective of the clergy (1 class)
• Guests-Families who have lost children (1 class)
• Guest-The problem of trauma-induced stress (1 class)
• Guest-The perspective of a funeral director and mortician (1 class)
• Student Projects (6 classes)