Which of the following describe your present conceptionof death?

Which of the following describe your present conception
of death?

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Models of Grieving
The death of a loved one is a significant event that everyone experiences. An individual’s social environment, including societal and familial cultural factors, may influence how an individual approaches death or grieves the loss of someone else who dies. You can anticipate addressing grief in your social work practice and, therefore, should develop an understanding of the grieving process.

Two models of grieving?the Kubler-Ross and Westburg models?identify stages through which an individual progresses in response to the death of a loved one. Understanding the various ways individuals cope with grief helps you to anticipate their responses and to assist them in managing their grief. Select one model of grieving?the Kubler-Ross or Westburg model?to address in this assignment.

Addressing the needs of grieving family members can diminish your personal emotional, mental, and physical resources. In addition to developing strategies to assist grieving individuals in crisis, you must develop strategies that support self-care.
In this Assignment, you apply a grieving model to work with families in a hospice environment and suggest strategies for self-care.

Submit by SATURDAY 8PM NEW YORK TIME a 2- to 4-page paper in which you:
Explain how you, as a social worker, might apply the grieving model you selected to your work with families in a hospice environment.
Identify components of the grieving model that you think might be difficult to apply to your social work practice. Explain why you anticipate these challenges.
Identify strategies you might use for your own self care as a social worker dealing with grief counseling. Explain why these strategies might be effective.

References
Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Support your Assignment with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

grandchildren and great-grandchildren with gifts,
loans, and babysitting.
Because older people are living longer, four and
even five generations of families are becoming more
common. Papalia et al. (2009, p. 613) note:
Grandparents and great-grandparents are important
to their families. They are sources of wisdom,
companions in play, links to the past, and symbols
of the continuity of family life. They are engaged
in the ultimate generative function: expressing the
human longing to transcend mortality by investing
themselves in the future generations.
Guidelines for Positive
Psychological Preparation
for Later Adulthood:
The Strengths Perspective
Growing old is a lifelong process. Becoming 65 does
not destroy the continuity of what a person has been,
is now, and will be. Recognizing this should lessen the
fear of growing old. For those who are financially
secure and in good health and who have prepared
thoughtfully, later adulthood can be a period of
at least reasonable pleasure and comfort, if not
luxury.
Some may be able to start small home businesses,
based on their hobbies, or become involved in meaningful
activities with churches and other organizations.
Others may relax while fishing or traveling around the
country. Still others may continue to pursue such interests
as gardening, woodworking, reading, needlework,
painting, weaving, and photography. Many older people
have contributed as much (or more) to society as
they did in their earlier years. One role model in this
area is Jimmy Carter; see Highlight 15.1.
Our lives depend largely on our goals and our
efforts to achieve those goals. How we live before
retiring will largely determine whether later adulthood
will be a nightmare or will be gratifying and
fulfilling. The importance of being physically and
mentally active throughout life was discussed in
Chapter 14. Here are some factors that are closely
related to satisfaction in later adulthood:
1. Close personal relationships. Having close relationships
with others is important throughout life.
Older people who have close friends are more satisfied
with life. Practically everyone needs a person
to whom one can confide one?s private thoughts or
feelings. Older people who have confidants are
better able to handle the trials and tribulations of
HIGHLIGHT 15.1
Jimmy Carter: Stumbled as President, Excelled in Later Adulthood
Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter Jr.) was born October 1,
1924, in the small rural community of Plains, Georgia. Carter
graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1946.
After seven years as a naval officer, he returned to Plains,
where he ran a peanut-producing business. In 1962, he entered
state politics. Eight years later, he was elected governor of
Georgia. In 1976, he was elected president of the United States.
Although he had some noteworthy accomplishments as president,
there were serious setbacks economically and in foreign
affairs. Inflation, interest rates, and unemployment rates were
at near-record highs. During Carter?s four-year administration,
the economy went into a recession. In 1979, more than 50
members of the U.S. Embassy staff in Iran were taken as hostages
by militants. Despite 14 months of trying, the Carter administration
was unable to secure release of the hostages. After
a devastating defeat for reelection in 1980, Carter retired from
political life?and left being very unpopular.
But the best was yet to come. He did not throw in the
towel. Today he is a professor at Emory University in
Georgia and a leading advocate for Habitat for Humanity,
which helps build houses for low-income families. He established
the Carter Center, which sponsors international
programs in human rights, preventive health care, education,
agricultural techniques, and conflict resolution.
Carter and the Carter Center have secured the release of
hundreds of political prisoners. He has become an elder
statesman, a roving peacemaker, and a guardian of freedom.
He oversaw the Nicaraguan elections that ousted
the dictatorship of the Sandinistas. He brokered a ceasefire
between the Serbs and the Bosnian Muslims. He has
pressured China to release political prisoners. He was the
first former U.S. president to visit Communist Cuba. He
has helped set up fair elections in China, Mozambique,
Nigeria, Indonesia, and several other developing countries.
In addition, he has written 14 books. In 2002, at age 78, he
was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Clearly, Carter?s accomplishments
in later adulthood surpass his accomplishments
in his earlier years.
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aging. Through sharing their deepest concerns,
people are able to ventilate their feelings and to
talk about their problems and possibly arrive at
some strategies for handling them. Those who are
married are more likely than the widowed to have
confidants, and the widowed are more likely to
have confidants than those who have never married.
For those who are married, the spouse is apt
to be the confidant, especially for men.
2. Finances. Health and income are two factors
closely related to life satisfaction in later adulthood.
When people feel good and have money,
they can be more active. Those who are active?
who go out to eat, go to meetings or museums, go
to church, go on picnics, or travel?are happier
than those who mostly stay at home. Saving
money for later years is important, and so is
learning to manage or budget money wisely.
3. Interests and hobbies. Psychologically, people
who are traumatized most by retirement are those
whose self-image and life interests center on their
work. People who have meaningful hobbies and
interests look forward to retirement in order to
have sufficient time for these activities.
4. Self-identity. People who are comfortable and realistic
about who they are and what they want
from life are better prepared to deal with stresses
and crises that arise.
5. Looking toward the future. A person who dwells
on the past or rests on past achievements is apt to
find the older years depressing. On the other
hand, a person who looks to the future generally
has interests that are alive and growing and is
therefore able to find new challenges and new satisfaction
in later years. Looking toward the future
involves planning for retirement, including deciding
where one would like to live, in what type of
housing and community, and what one looks forward
to doing with his or her free time.
6. Coping with crises. If a person learns to cope effectively
with crises in younger years, these coping
skills will remain useful when a person is
older. Effective coping is learning to approach
problems realistically and constructively.
Grief Management and Death
Education
In the remainder of this chapter, we will discuss reactions
to death in our society, including social work
roles in grief management and guidelines for relating
to a dying person and to survivors.
Death in Our Society: The Impact
of Social Forces
People in primitive societies handle death better than
we do. They are more apt to view death as a natural
occurrence, partly because they have shorter life expectancies.
They also frequently see friends and relatives
die. Because they view death as a natural
occurrence, they are better prepared to handle the
death of loved ones. Spotlight 15.3 illustrates the
cultural-historical context of death and bereavement.
In our society, we tend to shy away from
thinking about death. The terminally ill generally
die in institutions (hospitals and nursing homes),
away from their homes. Therefore, we are seldom
exposed to people dying. Many people in our society
seek to avoid thinking about death. They avoid going
to funerals and avoid conversations about death.
Many people live as if they believe they will live
indefinitely.
We need to become comfortable with the idea of
our own eventual death. If we do that, we will be
better prepared for the deaths of close friends and
relatives. We will also then be better prepared to
relate to the terminally ill and to help survivors
who have experienced the death of a close friend or
relative.
Funerals are needed for survivors. Funerals help
initiate the grieving process so that people can work
through their grief. (Delaying the grieving process
may intensify the eventual grief.) For some, funerals
also serve the function of demonstrating that the person
is dead. If survivors do not actually see the dead
body, some may mystically believe that the person is
still alive. For example, John F. Kennedy was assassinated
in 1963 and had a closed-casket funeral.
Because the body was not shown, rumors abounded
for many years that he was still alive.
The sudden death of a young person is more difficult
to cope with, for three reasons. First, we do
not have time to prepare for the death. Second, we
feel the loss as more severe because we feel the person
is missing out on many of the good things in life.
Third, we do not have the opportunity to obtain a
sense of closure in the relationship; we may feel we
did not have the opportunity to tell the person how
we felt about him or her, or we did not get the opportunity
to resolve interpersonal conflicts. (Because
the grieving process is intensified when closure does
Psychological Aspects of Later Adulthood 661
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not occur, it is advisable to actively work toward
closure in our relationships with others.)
Children should not be sheltered from death.
They should be taken to funerals of relatives and
friends and their questions answered honestly. It is
a mistake to say, ?Grandmother has gone on a trip
and won?t be back.? The child will wonder if other
significant people in his or her life will also go on a
trip and not come back; or the child may be puzzled
about why grandmother won?t return from the trip.
It is much better to explain to children that death is
a natural process. It is desirable to state that death is
unlikely to occur until a person is quite old, but that
there are exceptions?such as an automobile accident.
Parents who take their children to funerals almost
always find the children handle the funeral
better than they expected. Funerals help children
learn that death is a natural process.
It is generally a mistake for survivors to seek to
appear strong and emotionally calm following the
death of a close friend or relative. Usually such people
want to avoid dealing with their loss, and there is
a danger that when they do start grieving they will
experience more intense grief?partly because they
will feel guilty about denying that they are hurting,
and partly because they will feel guilty because they
de-emphasized (by hiding their pain and feelings) the
importance of the person who died.
Many health professionals (such as medical doctors)
find death difficult to handle. Health professionals
are committed to healing. When someone is
found to have a terminal illness, health professionals
are apt to experience a sense of failure. In some
cases, they experience guilt because they cannot do
more, or because they might have made mistakes
that contributed to a terminal illness. Therefore, do
not be too surprised if you find that some health
professionals do not know what to say or do when
confronted by terminal illness.
The Grieving Process
Nearly all of us are currently grieving about some
loss that we have had. It might be the end of a romantic
relationship, or moving away from friends
and parents, or the death of a pet, or failing to get
a grade we wanted, or the death of someone.
It is a mistake to believe that grieving over a loss
should end in a set amount of time. The normal
grieving process is often the life span of the griever.
When we first become aware of a loss of great importance
to us, we are apt to grieve intensively?by
crying or by being depressed. Gradually, we will
have hours, then days, then weeks, then months
when we will not think about the loss and will not
grieve. However, there will always be something that
reminds us of the loss (such as anniversaries), and we
SPOTLIGHT ON DIVERSITY 15.3
The Cultural-Historical Context of Death and Bereavement
Cultural customs concerning the disposal and remembrance
of the dead, the transfer of possessions, and even expressions
of grief vary greatly from culture to culture. Often, religious
or legal prescriptions about these topics reflect a society?s
view of what death is and what happens afterward.
In ancient Greece, bodies of heroes were publicly burned
as a symbol of honor. Public cremation is still practiced by
Hindus in India and Nepal. In contrast, cremation is prohibited
under Orthodox Jewish law, as it is believed that the dead
will rise again for a ?last judgment? and the chance for eternal
life. To this day, some Polynesians in the Tahitian Islands
bury their parents in the front yard of their parents? home as a
way of remembering them.
In ancient Romania, warriors went laughing to their
graves, expecting to meet Zalmoxis, their supreme god.
In Mayan society, which prospered several centuries ago
in Mexico and Central America, death was seen as a gradual
transition. At first a body was given only a provisional burial.
Survivors continued to perform mourning rites until the body
decayed to the point where it was thought the soul had left it
and transcended into the spiritual realm.
In Japan, religious rituals expect survivors to maintain
contact with the deceased. Families keep an altar in their
homes that is dedicated to their ancestors; they offer them
cigars and food and talk to the altar as if they were talking
to their deceased loved ones. In contrast, the Hopi (Native
American tribe) fear the spirits of the deceased and try to forget,
as quickly as possible, those who have died.
Some modern cultural customs have evolved from ancient
ones. The current practice of embalming, for example,
evolved from the mummification practice in ancient Egypt
and China about 3,000 years ago that was designed to preserve
a body so that the soul could eventually return to it.
Today, Muslims in Bali are encouraged to suppress sadness,
and instead to laugh and be joyful at burials. In contrast,
Muslims in Egypt are encouraged to express their grief with
displays of deep sorrow.
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will again grieve. The intense grieving periods will,
however, gradually become shorter, occur less frequently,
and decrease in intensity.
Two models of the grieving process will be presented
here: the K?bler-Ross (1969) model and the
Westberg (1962) model. These models help us to understand
the grief we feel from any loss.
The K?bler-Ross Model
This model posits five stages of grief:
1. Stage One: Denial. During this stage, we tell ourselves,
?No, this can?t be. There must be a mistake.
This just isn?t happening.? Denial is often
functional because it helps cushion the impact of
the loss.
2. Stage Two: Rage and Anger. During this stage,
we tell ourselves, ?Why me? This just isn?t fair!?
For example, terminally ill patients resent that
they will soon die while other people will remain
healthy and alive. During this stage, God is sometimes
a target of the anger. The terminally ill, for
example, blame God as unfairly imposing a death
sentence.
3. Stage Three: Bargaining. During this stage, people
with losses attempt to strike bargains to regain
all or part of the loss. For example, the
terminally ill may bargain with God for more
time. They promise to do something worthwhile
or to be good in exchange for another month or
year of life. K?bler-Ross indicates that even agnostics
and atheists sometimes attempt to bargain
with God during this stage.
4. Stage Four: Depression. During this stage, those
having losses tell themselves, ?The loss is true,
and it?s really sad. This is awful. How can I go
on with life??
5. Stage Five: Acceptance. During this stage, the
person fully acknowledges the loss. Survivors
accept the loss and begin working on alternatives
to cope with the loss and to minimize its impact.
The Westberg Model
This model is represented graphically in Figure 15.1.
? Shock and Denial. According to the Westberg
model, many people, when informed of a tragic
loss, are so numb, and in a state of such shock,
that they are practically devoid of feelings. It
could well be that when emotional pain is unusually
intense, a person?s response system experiences
?overload? and temporarily ?shuts down.?
The person feels hardly anything and acts as if
nothing has happened. Such denial is a way of
avoiding the impact of a tragic loss.
? Emotions Erupt. As the realization of the loss becomes
evident, the person expresses the pain by
crying, screaming, or sighing.
? Anger. At some point, a person usually experiences
anger. The anger may be directed at God for causing
the loss. The anger may be partly due to the
unfairness of the loss. If the loss involves the death
of a loved one, there is often anger at the dead person
for what is termed ?desertion.?
? Illness. Because grief produces stress, stress-related
illnesses are apt to develop, such as colds, flu,
ulcers, tension headaches, diarrhea, rashes, and
insomnia.
? Panic. Because the grieving person realizes he or
she does not feel like the ?old self,? the person
may panic and worry about going insane. Nightmares,
unwanted emotions that appear uncontrollable,
physical reactions, and difficulties in
concentrating on day-to-day responsibilities all
contribute to the panic.
? Guilt. The grieving person may blame himself
or herself for having done something that
Loss/Hurt Healed/New
Strengths
Shock and
denial
Emotions erupt
Affirming
reality
Anger
Hope
Illness
Reentry difficulties
Panic Depression and loneliness
Guilt
FIGURE 15.1 Westberg Model of the Grieving Process
? Cengage Learning 2013
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contributed to the loss, or feel guilty for not doing
something that might have prevented the loss.
? Depression and Loneliness. At times, the grieving
person is apt to feel very sad about the loss and
also to have feelings of isolation and loneliness.
The grieving person may withdraw from others,
who are viewed as not being supportive or
understanding.
? Reentry Difficulties. When the grieving person
makes efforts to put his or her life back together,
reentry problems are apt to arise. The person may
resist letting go of attachments to the past, and
loyalties to memories may hamper the pursuit of
new interests and activities.
? Hope. Gradually, hopes of putting one?s life back
together return and begin to grow.
? Affirming Reality. The grieving person puts his or
her life back together again, and the old feeling
of having control of one?s life returns. The
reconstructed life is not the same as the old, and
memories of the loss remain. However, the reconstructed
life is satisfactory. The grieving person
resolves that life will go on.
Evaluation of Models of the Grieving Process
K?bler-Ross and Westberg note that some people
continue grieving and never do reach the final stage
(the acceptance stage in the K?bler-Ross model, or
the affirming reality stage in the Westberg model).
K?bler-Ross and Westberg also caution that it is a
mistake to rigidly believe everyone will progress
through these stages as diagrammed. There is often
considerable movement back and forth among the
stages. For example, in the K?bler-Ross model, a
person may go from denial and depression to anger
and rage, then back to denial, then to bargaining,
then again to depression, back to anger and rage,
and so on.
How to Cope with Grief
The following suggestions are given to help those
who are grieving:
? Crying is an acceptable and valuable expression of
grief. Cry when you feel the need. Crying releases
the tension that is part of grieving.
? Talking about your loss and about your plans is
very constructive. Sharing your grief with friends,
family, the clergy, a hospice volunteer, or a professional
counselor is advisable. You may seek to
become involved with a group of others having
similar experiences. Talking about your grief eases
loneliness and allows you to ventilate your feelings.
Talking with close friends gives you a sense
of security and brings you closer to others you
love. Talking with others who have similar losses
helps put your problems into perspective. You will
see you are not the only one with problems, and
you will feel good about yourself when you assist
others in handling their losses.
? Death often causes us to examine and question
our faith or philosophy of life. Do not become
concerned if you begin questioning your beliefs.
Talk about them. For many, a religious faith provides
help in accepting the loss.
? Writing out a rational self-analysis on your grief
will help you to identify irrational thinking that is
contributing to your grief (see Chapter 8). Once
any irrational thinking is identified, you can relieve
much of your grief through rational challenges
to your irrational thinking.
? Try not to dwell on how unhappy you feel. Become
involved and active in life around you. Do
not waste your time and energy on self-pity.
? Seek to accept the inevitability of death?yours
and that of others.
? If the loss is the death of a loved one, holidays and
the anniversaries of your loved one?s birth and
death can be stressful. Seek to spend these days
with family and friends who will give you
support.
? You may feel that you have nothing to live for
and may even think about suicide. Understand
that many people who encounter severe losses
feel this way. Seek to find assurance in the fact
that a sense of purpose and meaning will return.
? Intense grief is very stressful. Stress is a factor that
leads to a variety of illnesses, such as headaches,
colitis, ulcers, colds, and flu. If you become ill,
seek a physician?s help, and tell him or her that
your illness may be related to grief you are
experiencing.
? Intense grief may also lead to sleeplessness, sexual
difficulties, loss of appetite, or overeating. If a
loved one has died, do not be surprised if you
dream the person is still alive. You may find you
have little energy and cannot concentrate. All of
these reactions are normal. Do not worry that you
are going crazy or losing your mind. Seek to take
a positive view. Eat a balanced diet, get ample
rest, and exercise moderately. Every person?s grief
is individual?if you are experiencing unusual
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physical reactions (such as nightmares), try not to
become overly alarmed.
? Medication should be taken sparingly and only
under the supervision of a physician. Avoid trying
to relieve your grief with alcohol or other drugs.
Many drugs are addictive and may stop or delay
the necessary grieving process.
? Recognize that guilt, real or imagined, is a normal
part of grief. Survivors often feel guilty about
things they said or did, or feel guilty about things
they think they should have said or done. If you
are experiencing intense guilt, it is helpful to share
it with friends or with a professional counselor. It
might also be helpful to write a rational selfanalysis
of the guilt (see Chapter 8). Learn to forgive
yourself. All humans make mistakes.
? You may find that friends and relatives appear to
be shunning you. If this is happening, they probably
are uncomfortable around you, as they do not
know what to say or do. Take the initiative and
talk with them about your loss. Inform them
about ways in which you would like them to be
supportive.
? If possible, put off making major decisions (changing
jobs, moving) until you become more emotionally
relaxed. When you?re highly emotional, you?re
more apt to make undesirable decisions.
Application of Grief Management Theory
to Client Situations
Most people are grieving about one or more losses?
the end of a romantic relationship, the death of a
pet, or the death of a loved one. Social workers
may take on a variety of roles in the areas of grief
management and death education: They can be initiators
of educational programs in schools,
churches, and elsewhere for the general public.
They can be counselors in a variety of settings (including
hospices, nursing homes, and hospitals) in
which they work on a one-to-one basis with the terminally
ill and with survivors. They can be group
facilitators and lead grief management groups (including
bereavement groups for survivors) in settings
such as hospitals, hospices, mental health clinics,
and schools. They may also serve as brokers in
linking individuals who are grieving, or who have
unrealistic views about death and dying, with appropriate
community resources.
In order for social workers to be effective in these
roles, they need to become comfortable with the idea
of their own eventual deaths. They also need to develop
skills for relating to the terminally ill and to
survivors. The following sections present some
guidelines in these areas. The material is useful not
only for social workers but also for anyone who has
contact with a dying person or with survivors.
How to Relate to a Dying Person
First, you need to accept the idea of your own
eventual death and view death as a normal process.
If you cannot accept your own death, you will probably
be uncomfortable talking to someone who is
terminally ill and will not be able to discuss the concerns
that the dying person has in an understanding
and positive way. The questions in Highlight 15.2
will help you assess your attitudes toward the reality
of death.
Second, tell the dying person that you are willing
to talk about any concerns that he or she has. Let
When a person?s spouse dies, he or she is apt to feel sad, lonely,
and isolated. Gradually, the grieving person reaches out to others.
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HIGHLIGHT 15.2
Questions About Grief, Death, and Dying
Arriving at answers to these questions is one way to work
toward becoming more comfortable with your own eventual
death.
1. Which of the following describe your present conception
of death?
a. Cessation of all mental and physical activity
b. Death as sleep
c. Heaven-and-hell concept
d. A pleasant afterlife
e. Death as being mysterious and unknown
f. The end of all life for you
g. A transition to a new beginning
h. A joining of the spirit with an unknown cosmic
force
i. Termination of this physical life with survival of the
spirit
j. Something other than what is on this list
2. Which of the following aspects of your own death do
you find distasteful?
a. What might happen to your body after death
b. What might happen to you if there is a life after
death
c. What might happen to your dependents
d. The grief that it would cause to your friends and
relatives
e. The pain you may experience as you die
f. The deterioration of your body before you die
g. All your plans and projects coming to an end
h. Something other than what is on this list
3. If you could choose, what age would you like to be
when you die?
4. When you think of your own eventual death, how do
you feel?
a. Depressed
b. Fearful
c. Discouraged
d. Purposeless
e. Angry
f. Pleasure in being alive
g. Resolved as you realize death is a natural process
of living
h. Other (specify)
5. For what, or for whom, would you be willing to
sacrifice your life?
a. An idea or moral principle
b. A loved one
c. In combat
d. An emergency where another life could be saved
e. Not for any reason
6. If you could choose, how would you prefer to die?
a. A sudden, violent death
b. A sudden but nonviolent death
c. A quiet and dignified death
d. Death in the line of duty
e. Suicide
f. Homicide victim
g. Death after you have achieved your life goals
h. Other (specify)
7. If it were possible, would you want to know the exact
date on which you would die?
8. Would you want to know if you had a terminal illness?
9. If you had six more months to live, how would you
want to spend the time?
a. Satisfying hedonistic desires such as sex
b. Withdrawing
c. Contemplating or praying
d. Seeking to prepare loved ones for your death
e. Completing projects and tying up loose ends
f. Considering suicide
g. Other (specify)
10. Have you seriously contemplated suicide? What are
your moral views of suicide? Are there circumstances
under which you would take your life?
11. If you had a serious illness and the quality of your life
had substantially deteriorated, what measures do you
believe should be taken to keep you alive?
a. All possible heroic medical efforts should be taken
b. Medical efforts should be discontinued when there is
practically no hope of returning to a life with quality
c. Other (specify)
12. If you are married, would you prefer to outlive your
spouse? Why?
13. How important do you believe funerals and grief
rituals are for survivors?
14. If it were up to you, how would you like to have your
body disposed of after you die?
a. Cremation
b. Burial
c. Donation of your body to a medical school or to
science
d. Other (specify)
15. What kind of funeral would you prefer?
a. A church service
b. As large as possible
c. Small with only close friends and relatives present
d. A lavish funeral
e. A simple funeral
f. Whatever your survivors want
g. Other (specify)
16. Have you made a will? Why or why not?
17. Were you able to arrive at answers to most of these
questions? Were you uncomfortable in answering these
questions? If you were uncomfortable, what were you
feeling, and what made you uncomfortable? For the
questions you do not have answers to, how might you
arrive at answers?
666 Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
the person know that you are emotionally ready and
supportive, that you care, and that you are available.
Remember, the person has a right not to talk
about concerns if he or she so chooses. Touching or
hugging the dying person is also very helpful.
Third, answer the dying person?s questions as
honestly as you can. If you do not know an answer,
find someone who can provide the requested information.
Evasion or ambiguity in response to a dying
person?s questions only increases his or her concerns.
If there is a chance for recovery, this should be mentioned.
Even a small margin of hope can be a comfort.
Do not, however, exaggerate the chances for
recovery.
Fourth, a dying person should be allowed to accept
the reality of the situation at his or her own pace. Relevant
information should not be volunteered, nor
should it be withheld. People who have terminal illnesses
have rights to have access to all the relevant
information. A useful question that may assist a dying
person is, ?Do you want to talk about it??
Fifth, if people around the dying person are able
to accept the death, the dying person is helped to
accept the death. Therefore, it is therapeutic to
help close family members and friends accept the
death. Remember, they may have a number of concerns
that they want to discuss, and they may need
help to do this.
Sixth, if you have trouble with certain subjects
involving death, inform the dying person of your
limitations. This takes the guesswork out of the
relationship.
Seventh, the religious or philosophical viewpoint
of the dying person should be respected. Your own
personal views should not be imposed.
How to Relate to Survivors
These suggestions are similar to the suggestions on
relating to a dying person. It is very helpful to become
accepting of the idea of your own death. If you
are comfortable about your own death, you will be
better able to calmly listen to the concerns being expressed
by survivors.
It is helpful to initiate the first encounter with a
survivor by saying something like, ?I?m sorry,? and
then touching or hugging the person. Then convey
that if he or she wants to talk or needs help, you?re
available. Take your lead from what the survivor
expresses. You should seek to convey that you
care, that you share his or her loss, and that you?re
available if he or she wants to talk.
It is helpful to use active listening with both survivors
and persons who are terminally ill. In using
active listening, the receiver of a message feeds back
only what he or she feels was the intent of the sender?s
message. In using this approach, the receiver
does not send a message of his or her own, such as
asking a question, giving advice, expressing personal
feelings, or offering an opinion.
It is frequently helpful to share with a survivor
pleasant and positive memories you have about the
person who has died. This conveys that you sincerely
care about and miss the deceased person and also
that the deceased person?s life had positive meaning.
ETHICAL DILEMMA
Whether to Insert a Feeding Tube
New technology has made it possible for patients
with irreversible brain damage to be
kept alive for decades. A key component of
keeping someone alive is the insertion of a
feeding tube. Once a feeling tube has been inserted,
it is extremely difficult to obtain a
court order to have it removed. Some patients
have been kept alive in a chronic vegetative state for 10 to 15
years after a feeding tube has been inserted.
Assume the following: Your mother has a tragic automobile
accident, and her brain is deprived of oxygen for 15 minutes.
She is in a coma for 30 days, and medical tests indicate that
she has suffered irreversible brain damage. It will take a miracle
for your mother to ever regain consciousness. Your mother has
not signed a living will, a document in which the signer asks to
be allowed to die rather than be kept alive by artificial means if
disabled and there is no reasonable expectation of recovery.
The attending doctors ask you if you want to give permission
for a feeding tube to be inserted. If a tube is not inserted, your
mother will starve to death; however, she probably will experience
little or no pain, as she is in a coma. If a tube is inserted,
she will probably live in a vegetative state for many years.
What do you do?
This dilemma is obviously heartrending, but is included
here to help prepare you for a decision you may someday
have to make.
EP 2.1.2
Psychological Aspects of Later Adulthood 667
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Relating your memories will often focus the survivor?s
thoughts on pleasant and positive memories
of his or her own.
Continue to visit the survivors if they show interest
in such visits. It is also helpful to express your
caring and support through a card, a little gift, or
a favorite casserole. If a survivor is unable to resume
the normal functions of living, or remains deeply
depressed, suggest seeking professional help. Joining
a survivor self-help group is another possible
suggestion.
The religious or philosophical viewpoint of survivors
should be respected. You should not seek to
impose your views on the survivors.
How to Become Comfortable with the Idea
of Your Own Eventual Death: The Strengths
Perspective
Perhaps the main reason people are uncomfortable
about death is that in our culture we are socialized
to avoid seeing death as a natural process. We would
be more comfortable with the idea of our own death
if we could talk about it more openly and actively
seek answers to our own questions and concerns.
Comfort with the idea of our own death helps us
be more supportive in relating to and understanding
those who are dying. If you are uncomfortable about
death, including your own eventual death, here are
some things you can do to become more
comfortable.
Identify what your concerns are and then seek
answers to these concerns. Numerous excellent
books provide information on a wide range of subjects
involving death and dying. Many colleges, universities,
and organizations provide workshops
and courses on death and dying. If you have intense
fears about death and dying, consider talking to
authorities in the field, such as professional counselors,
or to clergy with experience and training in
grief counseling.
Taboos against talking about death and dying
need to be broken in our society. You may find
that tactfully initiating discussions about death and
dying with friends and relatives will be helpful to
you, and to people close to you.
It is probably accurate that we will never become
fully accepting of the idea of our own death, but we
can learn a lot more about the subject and obtain
answers to many of the questions and concerns we
have. In talking about death, it is advisable to avoid
using euphemisms such as ?passed on,? ?gone to
heaven,? and ?taken by the Lord.? It is much better
to be accurate and say the person has died. Using
euphemisms gives an unrealistic impression of death
and is part of an avoidance approach to facing
death. Fortunately, an open communications approach
about death is emerging in our society.
Additional ways to become more informed about
death and dying are attending funerals; watching
quality films and TV programs that cover aspects
of dying; providing support to friends or relatives
who are terminally ill; being supportive to survivors;
talking to people who do grief counseling to learn
about their approach; keeping a journal of your
thoughts and concerns related to death and dying;
and planning the details of your own funeral. Some
persons move toward becoming more comfortable
with their own death by studying the research that
has been conducted on near-death experiences, as
described in Highlight 15.3.
Mwalimu Imara (1975) views dying as having a
potential for being the final stage of growth. Learning
to accept death is similar to learning to accept
other losses?such as the breakup of a romantic relationship
or leaving a job we cherished. If we learn
to accept and grow from the losses we encounter,
such experiences will help us in facing the deaths of
loved ones and our own eventual death.
Having a well-developed sense of identity (that is,
who we are and what we want out of life) is an important
step in learning to become comfortable with
our own eventual death. If we have well-developed
blueprints of what will give meaning and direction to
our lives, we are emotionally better prepared to accept
that we will eventually die.
Ethical Question 15.5
Are you comfortable with the fact
that someday you will die? Most
people are not. If you are not, what
do you need to work on to become
more comfortable? EP 2.1.2
668 Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Chapter Summary
The following summarizes this chapter?s content in
terms of the learning objectives presented at the beginning
of the chapter.
A. Describe the developmental tasks of later
adulthood.
Older adults must make a number of developmental
psychological adjustments, such as adjusting to retirement
and lower income and to changing physical
strength and health.
B. Present theoretical concepts about developmental
tasks in late adulthood.
Theoretical concepts about developmental tasks in
later adulthood include integrity versus despair,
shifting from work-role preoccupation to selfdifferentiation;
shifting from body preoccupation to
body transcendence; shifting from self-occupation to
self-transcendence; conducting a life review; the importance
of self-esteem; the significance of having a
high level of life satisfaction; the negative effects of
low status and ageism; the prevalence of depression
HIGHLIGHT 15.3
Life After Life
Raymond Moody (1975) interviewed a number of people who
had near-death experiences. These people had been pronounced
clinically dead but then shortly afterward were revived.
Moody provides the following composite summary of
typical experiences that have been reported. (It is important to
bear in mind that the following narrative is not a representation
of any one person?s experience; rather, it is a composite
of the common elements found in many accounts.)
A man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest
physical stress, he hears himself pronounced dead by his
doctor. He begins to hear an uncomfortable noise, a loud
ringing or buzzing, and at the same time feels himself moving
very rapidly through a long dark tunnel. After this, he
suddenly finds himself outside of his own physical body, but
still in the immediate physical environment, and he sees his
own body from a distance, as though he is a spectator. He
watches the resuscitation attempt from his unusual vantage
point and is in a state of emotional upheaval.
After a while, he collects himself and becomes more accustomed
to his odd condition. He notices that he still has a
?body,? but one of a very different nature and with very
different powers from the physical body he has left behind.
Soon other things begin to happen. Others come to meet
and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of relatives and
friends who have already died, and a loving, warm spirit of
a kind he has never encountered before?being of light?
appears before him. This being asks him a question, nonverbally,
to make him evaluate his life and helps him along by
showing him a panoramic, instantaneous playback of the
major events of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching
some sort of barrier or border, apparently representing
the limit between earthly life and the next life. Yet,
he finds that he must go back to the earth; that the time for
his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by
now he is taken up with his experiences in the afterlife and
does not want to return. He is overwhelmed by his intense
feelings of joy, love, and peace. Despite his attitude, though,
he somehow reunites with his body and lives.
Later he tries to tell others, but he has trouble doing so.
In the first place, he can find no human words adequate to
describe this unearthly episode. He also finds that others
scoff, so he stops telling other people. Still, the experience
affects his life profoundly, especially his views about death
and its relationship to life.
No one is sure why such experiences are reported. Various
explanations have been suggested (Siegel, 1981). One is that it
suggests there may be a pleasant afterlife. This explanation
gives comfort to those who dislike seeing death as an absolute
end. Another explanation, however, is that these near-death
experiences are nothing more than hallucinations triggered by
chemicals released by the brain or induced by lack of oxygen
to the brain. Scientists involved with near-death research
acknowledge that so far there is no conclusive evidence that
these near-death experiences prove there is life after death.
Nelson, Mattingly, and Schmitt (2007) suggest that some
people may be biologically predisposed to near-death experiences.
They interviewed 55 Europeans who said they had had
such experiences. The researchers found that these research
subjects also had these experiences in the transition between
wakefulness and sleep. The researchers theorized that such people
may have disturbances in the brain?s arousal system that
permit an intrusion of REM sleep elements when they are not
quite asleep, bringing on temporary visual hallucinations.
SOURCE: Raymond A. Moody, Jr., 1975, Life After Life. New York:
Bantam Books, pp. 21?23. Reprinted by permission of the copyright
owner, Mockingbird Books, St. Simon?s Island, GA.
Psychological Aspects of Later Adulthood 669
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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

69.

UNIV B201 Career Management /Development Plan Instructions

The Development Plan is comprised of an industry outlook and SMART goals. The purpose of this assignment is to enable you to research your target industry, better understand the requirements and expectations of the field, and to develop strategies for achieving your professional goals.

I. Industry Outlook
You will write a two paragraph overview of your target position and industry. This information will include employment outlooks and projections, required education and licensure, and average salary ranges for entry level professionals. It is necessary to use external sources (see below) and cite this information. There should be two other resources used besides the BLS website.
? Occupational Outlook Handbook (Dept of Labor) http://www.bls.gov/OCO/
? Occupational Information Network/O*Net http://online.onetcenter.org/
? Vault Career Insider [e-resource via Hagerty Library]

II. SMART Goals
You will use the SMART goal format to address four categories (two required and two additional categories) from the list below.
Required Categories:
? Networking
? Industry/Technical Skills Additional Categories:
? Identifying a Mentor
? Personal Growth
? Social Integration within Company
? Financial Planning
? Community Integration
? Cross Cultural Awareness
? Leadership Skills
? Advanced Education/Professional Licensure
? Other (you can create a category more relevant to your career goals)

Specific-The goal should define specific results and provide concrete details
Measurable-When writing the goal, define how you can measure success
Attainable-Goals should be challenging but realistic
Relevant-State the results to be achieved
Time-Bound-Establish a time limit
Example of a SMART goal statement (please note the level of detail written):
Category SMART Goal Statement
Networking Complete three informational interviews, during the fall of 2016, with mid to high level professionals working in economic development, public policy, or international economics working for the federal government or applicable agency within the Washington D.C. area to identify:
– Viable career paths and entry level positions
– Recommendations for advanced degrees and development of admission strategies, highlighting topics including:
o Differentiators amongst programs (MS, MPA, MPP, MAIEF or PhD)
o Application process
o Creation of candidate profiles and interest statements
o Recommended universities and colleges
– Insight into the federal government?s job search process:
o Navigating USAJOBS
o Creation of federal resume
– Overview of salary schedule (GS grades)