chapter 18

Question 1

how do the varying age groups define death

Answer 1

• death: absence or respiration and heartbeat, focuses on brain death (irreversible coma)
• children: understand irreversible / permanent nature, factors affecting (experience, culture, exposure)
• adolescence: logically understand death, problems applying idea to their lives
• adult: early (avoidance, anxiety, distance), middle (aware), late (practical thoughts, when / how, salient)

Question 2

what is death anxiety

Answer 2

• multidimensional construct (fear of death scale)
• symptoms (fear of): unknown, dying process, premature death, being destroyed, loneliness
• factors influencing: cause, personality, copying mechanisms, family members, health, spirituality
• minimising anxiety: high / no religiosity, end of life choices (wills and advanced directives)

Question 3

what is experienced in the dying process

Answer 3

• experience: death awareness movement, respecting choices (advanced care planing, directive, living will)
• kubler ross’s stages: denial (not me), anger (why me), bargaining (yes me, but), depression (yes me), acceptance (my time is close and its all right)

Question 4

how can one care for the dying

Answer 4

• end of life: euthanasia, assisted suicide, ending life without patients request, alleviation of pain with opioids, decision not to treat
• hospice care: comprehensive support for dying, home care (when alert) is beneficial

Question 5

what is grief and the stages of grief

Answer 5

• grief: loss of primary relationships, relationships of attachment, losses are not always equivalent, loss of child experienced differently at different stages, girls (death of siblings) and boys (death of parents)
• stages of grief: 1 (shock, belief, denial), 2 (intense mourning), 3 (restitution, chaos theory)
  anticipatory grief: prolonged / debilitating, experience intense sadness / grief, resilient
• grief and loss model: wanganeen, indigenous roots, 5 (present), 4 (recognising losses), 3 (historical losses), 1/2 (traditional culture), 6/7 (designing grieving ceremonies)

Question 6

how can we ensure death with dignity occurs

Answer 6

• support: hospice / palliative care programs, bereaved pears, individual counselling
• funeral / ritual practices: appropriate disposal of body, assist social reintegration, diverse rituals
• recovery: helpful / misleading, depicts bereavement as a disorganised state, depends on coping styles

Question 7

what is euthanasia / the forms

Answer 7

• euthanasia: intentional ending of life, critical criteria (unendurable, crippling, terminal), openness to choices but reluctant to choose
• voluntary passive (withdrawal treatment, advance medical directives)
• voluntary active (medical staff act on request)
• involuntary active (medical staff act without patients consent)