Psychology of Death and Dying

The course experience provides students, utilizing Dubos' Multi-dimensional Health Model, an understanding of death and dying from a physiological, emotional, spiritual, and behavioral perspective with additional emphasis on legal and ethical issues. Topics to be explored included: therapeutic care plans as they relate to diseases and disorders of the terminally ill; medical preparation for death, inclusive of DNI (do not intubate), DNR (do not resuscitate) and health proxy laws; an examination of the emotional and physiological impact on the death of the caregiver as well as that of the terminal patient, an examination of funeral rituals and grieving practices involved in the healing process of bereavement, as well as unique circumstances of death involving suicide and euthanasia. Overall, the course explores death within the multiple dimensions of health and wellness on the continuum of the life cycle.

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