Recognizes the need for improved professional training in the care of the dying. Discusses ways in which such training might be provided in the light of British experience. Suggests that hospice programs should incorporate an education program aimed to meet deficiencies revealed in recent studies. (Author)

Suggests that the hospice approach includes several elements that can be utilized to improve the quality of life in nursing homes: a total needs emphasis, increased patient autonomy, open discussion of death, a community ideology, a team orientation, a role blurring of caregivers, and focus on patients and families. (Author)

A teacher describes the death of a fourth grade student and its impact on the child's classmates. The children's expressions of grief were channeled into various discussions and activities. (JN)

A critical review of the literature suggests the following: (1) negative changes in physical health, mortality rate, and mental health status usually accompany widowhood; (2) social-psychological variables such as the individual's characteristic ways of coping with stress and the adequacy of the social network may attenuate widowhood's negative…

This Learning Activity Packet (LAP) is designed to celebrate the life, events, and people of the past using a cemetery as a data source (includes a materials list, activity sheets, objectives, etc.). Journal availability: see RC 503 504. (SB)

This article examines the psychological needs of a high school student whose best friend was murdered. After describing how one teacher handled the situation, the article offers a school counselor's view and a school psychologist's view of how to handle such a situation. (SM)

Explores issues of counseling persons infected with HIV and AIDS, within the specific themes of rejection, powerlessness, and death. Quotations from 14 persons diagnosed with the disease are used to clarify these concerns. Provides specific counseling recommendations to make counseling an effective, compassionate endeavor with this population.…

Compared bereavement experiences of surviving spouses of suicides (N=14) with those of other surviving spouses (N=43). Focused on grief reactions suggested to be unique to suicide bereavement and quality of grief resolution. Found no significant differences among survivors on frequencies of common grief reactions, but suicide survivors were…

Contends that psychologists can benefit by understanding the religious development of religious clients. Reviews theories of religious development and research on a variety of issues involving religion over the life span. Investigates implications of theory and research on religious involvement in therapy and identifies important questions for…

Surveyed 547 11-year-olds concerning future hopes and worries. Re-surveyed subjects 3 years later and conducted interviews with 152 of the now 14-year-olds. Worries about employment and nuclear war appeared to predominate throughout adolescence, while proportions of students worried about unemployment, own mortality, lack of money, and Acquired…

This article reviews issues and circumstances surrounding the death of a University of Louisville (Kentucky) dental school faculty member found to be positive for the human immunodeficiency virus. it addresses administrative aspects including public relations, patient relations, epidemiological review, and staff counseling. (MSE)

Describes how a first-grade whole-language teacher uses daily story time to model good writing practices with her students. The approach focuses on using the teacher's own life experiences, including the death of her high school-age son, to teach students about life's lessons. (MDM)

Presents the bibliotherapeutic approach as a clinical strategy for working with children. Offers an overview of bibliotherapy, discusses how it can be used in treatment, and recommends books for various problems facing children. Notes that research on the effectiveness of bibliotheraphy is inconclusive and that it should be used only as adjunctive…

Examined five bereavement support groups, three of which focused on widows, family survivors of suicide, and family survivors of death of family member by cancer. Members of three groups tended to report strong satisfaction with group experience. Reasons for joining group and most valuable aspects of group experience varied as function of group…

Examined the relationship between depression rates, IQ, knowledge of the finality of death, exposure to suicidal behavior and knowledge of suicide methods. Found that the effect of these factors differed between suicidal and nonsuicidal psychiatrically hospitalized children and developmentally delayed adolescents. Also found that the factors had…