Introduction

Question 1

Define Thanatology

Answer 1

• concerned with the process of dying, death, grief, bereavement and coping
• socio-cultural factors shape our experience and understanding of death
• non death losses: experience many more non death than death losses, with change comes loss

Question 2

Why should we learn about death?

Answer 2

• thanatology is the study of life with death left in
• cultural ambivalence (death denial, acceptance and ‘sensational death’
• talking about death is seen as morbid, taboo and inappropriate (euphemisms)

Question 3

What is grief denial?

Answer 3

• bereaved people often experience stigmatization, a lack of appropriate support because people do not know how to be supportive
• friends & family seem to disappear, people lack compassion, people offer insensitive comments and platitudes
• unhelpful responses can compound grief

Question 4

Define death and grief literacy

Answer 4

Death: a set of knowledge and skills that make it possible to gain access to understand and act upon end-of-life and death care options
Grief: the capacity to access, process and use knowledge regarding the experience of loss, using knowledge to facilitate understanding and reflection, skills, to enable action and values to inspire compassion and care

Question 5

Describe death literature capacities

Answer 5

• develop the vocabulary and skills to communicate effectively about death, loss and grief
• promote self-reflection, learn to live more intentionally, embrace resiliency
• learn about services and options at the end-of-life
• become aware of and make sense of social issues that relate to death and loss
• avoid euphemisms and use concrete words to describe what actually happened

Question 6

What are the four lessons we learn from studying thanatology?

Answer 6

1) while there are things we can control, there are limitations to our control over life
2) life and death involve both individuals and communities
3) human beings are located between vulnerability and resilience
4) the study of death reveals the importance of quality in living and the human search for meaning

Question 7

What are the leading causes of death in Canada?

Answer 7

1) Cancer
2) heart disease
3) several: stroke, accidents, Covid

Question 8

Define life expectancy and mortality rate

Answer 8

life expectancy = Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the span of a life

mortality rate = the ratio between deaths and individuals in a specified population and during a particular time period : the incidence of deaths in a given population during a defined time period (such as one year) that is typically expressed per 1000 or 100,000 individuals : death rate

Question 9

Describe the medicalization of death

Answer 9

• majority of Canadians die in hospitals or in nursing homes
• advances in medical technology allow us to treat previously untreatable conditions
• death sometimes positioned as a medical issues or crisis to be prevented rather than as a natural and inevitable event in the course of life

Question 10

What are somethings that affect death?

Answer 10

• social location: location on a social map, related to variables including race, gender, class, age, sexuality, ability
• class status: income, education, occupation, housing
• biological weathering: physiological effects of racism and discrimination on the body, repeated exposure to discrimination leads to adverse health outcomes, premature biological aging