This research ethics article focuses on an unexpected finding from my Master's thesis examining bereaved participants' experiences of taking part in sensitive qualitative research: some participants wanted their real names used in my written dissertation and any subsequent empirical publications. While conducting interviews for my thesis and…

There has been an evolution in the understanding of the nature of grief since S. Freud's initial work, Mourning and Melancholia (1917/1953). Mental health practitioners and researchers have established new models to aid in the conceptualization and treatment of grief issues. The purpose of this study was to examine the opinions of experts in the…

Recent decades have witnessed an increase in thanatology education in colleges and universities. However, the infusion into thanatology curricula of religious faiths as they affect behaviors, experiences and emotions of dying individuals and survivors is still in its infancy. In this article I describe an effective approach I have used to…

In death-averse American society, the field of thanatology is often socially and academically isolating. The purpose of this article is to describe the experiences of a group of death scholars and share insights gained as members of an interdisciplinary team. They discuss the ways in which they have created a special "safe" space for death study…

As executive director of a small community museum, the author is always seeking new and innovative ways to link the museum and its collection with the local community. The museum is located in Southern Ontario, on the shore of Lake Ontario, and comprises three restored homes dating from the period 1835-1849. Located in close proximity to the…

Surveyed Canadian universities to determine how often full-semester credit courses in thanatology were offered. Results confirm a steady increase in the number of such courses offered from 1971-1980. Found all thanatology teachers held at least a masters degree. Departments of religion and philosophy offered 55 percent of the courses. (Author/JAC)

Thanatology students reported significantly lesser death threat and significantly greater death concerns. Trait anxiety was found to be a significant predictor of change in death threat in the Thanatology Group, with lesser anxiety associated with greater decline in death threat. (Author)

Compared death anxiety and fear of death levels expressed by 29 college students who had completed death and dying course with comparison group of 74 students. Found that those enrolled in thanatology class reported significantly higher death anxiety at end of semester. Results suggest different effect that thanatology course can have on…

Grief counseling has grown over the past two decades to become a well respected specialty within the field of counseling. This article examines books, articles, and literature developed by leading agencies in the field. Grief counseling is an interdisciplinary field focusing on the clinical aspects of working with individuals involved in dying and…

The author argues that the term "recovery" aptly describes the trajectory following the bereavement of most persons. While the term "resilience" has gained ascendancy in the thanatology literature and the term "recovery" has been dismissed as inappropriate to denote responses over time to being bereaved, the irony is that all dictionaries of the…

Students are faced with many subjects related to death in their everyday lives--war, euthanasia, disease, teenage suicide. A unit on death that focuses on literary and artistic conceptions of death, as well as historical trends concerning beliefs about death and burial, can help students express their feelings about death coherently and…

Denying the value of death but accepting its reality, the author points to dying, not death, as the problematic phenomenon with which a pragmatist thanatology must deal. It is suggested that dying contains opportunities for growth--for the dying as well as for their surviving friends and relatives. (Author)

In an effort to "treat" the growing death concerns of many medical staffs, an experiential death and dying lab was created. Its evolution to meet changing needs is discussed, as well as future potential for work in this area. (Author)

Notes that contributors to special journal issue have attempted to incorporate best aspects of European critical thinking within interdisciplinary and contextual approach, showing clear awareness of sociopolitical forces that affect one's relationship with mortality. Illustrates points by discussing Kurosawa film, "Ikuru," which recounts…

Explores the relationship between psychotherapy and clinical thanatology relative to working with dying patients and their survivors. Eight special characteristics of thanatological exchanges are explained including comments on time, transference, aspirations, and empathy. Conversation, heirarchical exchange, psychotherapy, and thanatological…