The last dance : encountering death and dying / Lynne Ann DeSpelder, Albert Lee Strickland.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 559-630) and index.

Factors Affecting Familiarity with Death -- Expressions of Attitudes toward Death -- The Present Milieu: Death Attitudes and Awareness -- Examining Assumptions -- Death in Early and Traditional Cultures -- Death and Dying in Western Culture -- Four Cultural Case Studies -- Rediscovering the Commemoration of Death -- A Mature Concept of Death -- Sociocultural Influences on Our Understanding of Death -- Death in Contemporary Multicultural Societies -- The Mature Concept of Death Revisited -- Modern Health Care -- Care of the Dying -- The Patient-Caregiver Relationship -- Stress in the Helping Professions -- Being with Someone Who Is Dying -- Personal and Social Meanings of Life-Threatening Illness -- Coping with Life-Threatening Illness -- Treatment Options and Issues -- The Dying Trajectory -- The Social Role of the Dying Patient -- Fundamental Ethical Principles -- Informed Consent to Treatment -- Choosing Death: Euthanasia and Allowing to Die -- Defining Death -- Considering Ethical Issues in Medicine -- Bereavement, Grief, and Mourning / Models of Grief -- The Experience of Grief and Mourning -- Variables Influencing Grief -- Coping Mechanisms for Survivors -- Bereavement as an Opportunity for Growth -- Psychosocial Aspects of Last Rites -- The American Funeral -- Selecting Funeral Services -- Body Disposition -- Making Meaningful Choices --

Legal Issues in the Public Arena -- Organ Donation -- Death Certification -- The Coroner and the Medical Examiner -- Autopsies -- Wills and Inheritance -- Probate -- Life Insurance and Death Benefits -- Early Childhood Encounters with Death -- Development of the Understanding of Death -- Children with Life-Threatening Illness -- Children as Survivors of a Close Death -- Helping Children Cope with Change and Loss -- Parental Bereavement -- Death of a Parent -- Spousal Bereavement -- Aging and the Aged -- Comprehending Suicide -- Explanatory Theories of Suicide -- Some Types of Suicide -- Risk Factors Influencing Suicide -- Lifespan Perspectives on Suicide -- Contemplating Suicide -- Suicide Notes -- Suicide Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention / Helping a Person Who Is in Suicidal Crisis -- Risk Taking -- Accidents -- Disasters -- Violence -- War -- AIDS and Other Emerging Diseases -- Coping with Risks -- Traditional Concepts about Life After Death -- Jewish Beliefs about Death and Resurrection -- Hellenistic Concepts of Immortality -- Christian Beliefs about the Afterlife -- The Afterlife in Islamic Tradition -- Death and Immortality in Eastern Religions -- Secular Concepts of Immortality -- Near-Death Experiences: At the Threshold of Death -- Death Themes in Dreams and Psychedelic Experiences -- Beliefs about Death: A Wall or a Door? -- The Value of Exploring Death and Dying -- New Directions in Death Education -- Death in the Future -- Living with Death and Dying.

"Widely recognized as the best-selling textbook in the field, The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying, 6th Editionis an interdisciplinary introduction to death, dying, and bereavement. No prerequisite courses are necessary for students to appreciate the text's comprehensive treatment, sensitive writing, and unbiased presentation."--Publisher description.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.