This diploma thesis looks into the issues of death and dying. Based on a chosen work of fiction, it endeavours to remit the topic of fear of dying and concerns on the possibilities of how to deal with it from points of view of a dying person as well as that of an accompanying one. By using and connecting approaches used in sociology of literature and social work, it aims to appraise the benefit of reading fiction on the given topic for social workers in their professional as well as personal life. The work of fiction therefore serves as an alternative receptive material. By its interpretation, a social worker or layman can gain a more profound knowledge of current social issues, which the last matters of a human unquestionably belong to.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:28:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CLEBER JOSE ALO DE MORAES.pdf: 2634763 bytes, checksum: 00f21e97451a3045afdec187b0e4421e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-18 / A professional nurse who works in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is daily confronted with the truth of death. Such process is usually followed by ambivalent feelings which, once overlooked or denied by the team itself, results in damages regarding the comforting of the patient s suffering, bringing on to the professional a psychical suffering. This study aims to investigate the imaginative expressions of an ICU nursing team who looks after adult patients, in search of the fields of affective-emotional meaning that sustain their imaginative constructions in the face of impending death. We have adopted the psychoanalytic methodology, which permeate our journey from the moment of an interactive narrative elaboration, to be presented as a dialogic procedure that entails an imaginative creation of the participants of this research, pervading the interviews that followed the interactive narratives, until the analysis of the obtained material. The interactive narratives and the transferencial narratives, both considered record documents that compile this study, unveil, among other findings, the field we have called Death Inevitability, being this one compound by three subfields: impotence, indifference and the assimilated absence. All three subfields are inextricably interwoven, sometimes appearing simultaneously in several narratives. The subfield of impotence is characterized by feelings and beliefs of defeat or failure, whenever the nursing team faces death without being able to subdue it. The subfield of indifference expresses itself predominantly through intellectualized reactions, where the emotional detachment and the rationalization predominate as defenses against the impact of death. On the other hand, the subfield called assimilated absence reveals the possibility of integration between the relative or limited power to the available resources and the experience of pain of the separation, which results in the iv acceptance of death as part of living. The emotional range that is woven by the participants through narratives reveals a fertile field of research on professional suffering, aging processes, palliative care, as well as psicossocial studies about the contemporary way of dealing with death and dying. / O profissional de enfermagem que trabalha no ambiente de UTI ? diariamente confrontado com a realidade da morte. Tal processo ? usualmente acompanhado de sentimentos ambivalentes que, ao serem menosprezados ou negados pela pr?pria equipe, trazem preju?zos no que se refere ao acolhimento do sofrimento do paciente, ocasionando o sofrimento ps?quico do profissional. Este estudo tem por objetivo investigar as produ??es imaginativas de uma equipe de enfermagem de Unidade de Terapia Intensiva que cuida de pacientes adultos, em busca dos campos de sentido afetivo-emocional que sustentam suas constru??es imaginativas diante da imin?ncia da morte. Adotamos o m?todo psicanal?tico, que permeia nosso percurso desde a elabora??o de uma narrativa interativa, a ser apresentada como procedimento dial?gico que enseja a cria??o imaginativa dos participantes desta pesquisa, perpassando as entrevistas que se seguiram ?s narrativas interativas, at? a an?lise interpretativa do material obtido. As narrativas interativas e as narrativas transferenciais, como os dois documentos de registro que comp?em este estudo, desvelam, entre outros achados, o campo de sentido o qual denominamos Inevitabilidade da Morte, sendo este composto por tr?s subcampos: a impot?ncia, a indiferen?a e a aus?ncia assimilada. Os tr?s subcampos se encontram intimamente imbricados, por vezes surgindo ao mesmo tempo nas diversas narrativas. O subcampo da impot?ncia ? caracterizado por sentimentos e cren?as ligadas ao sentimento de derrota ou fracasso da equipe de enfermagem ao enfrentar a morte sem conseguir subjug?-la. O subcampo da indiferen?a se expressa por rea??es predominantemente intelectualizadas, onde o distanciamento emocional e a racionaliza??o predominam como defesa contra o impacto emocional da morte. No subcampo chamado de aus?ncia assimilada, encontramos a integra??o ii entre a pot?ncia relativa ou limitada aos recursos dispon?veis e a viv?ncia da dor da separa??o, o que vem resultar na aceita??o da morte como parte integrante do viver. A gama emocional tecida em narrativas pelos participantes revela um campo f?rtil para a pesquisa do sofrimento profissional, dos processos de envelhecimento, dos cuidados paliativos, al?m de estudos psicossociais sobre o modo contempor?neo de lidar com a morte.

Poimenické aspekty komunikace na pomezí individuální eschatologie The poimenical aspects of communication at the interface with individual echatology Jiří Flam The present thesis responds to a question, whether there is a way of communication that can be used by churches to address the world, and that is not sufficiently used by the churches today. The thesis thus presents a specific means of communication, which is the law. The law is described as a communication process, and different methods how one can enter into such a communication process are presented. The success of a communication process depends on willingness of participants of such a process to communicate with each other. For this reason, the thesis also deals with the question, whether churches should seek the use of means of communication addressing the society as a whole, while the alternative might be the creation of closed theological elites. The answer to this question is sought through the Christological meaning of communication. The last part of the thesis focuses on research that would provide a partial answer to the question, whether the Czech society is actually interested in communication with churches, with special emphasis on communication concerning selected topics from the field of individual eschatology. Thus, the...

The shift in health care and nursing philosophy and practice from a holistic approach to a highly technological, cure-oriented approach has been attributed to effective pharmaceuticals made to prolong life. Recently medical professionals have shifted their focus to a combination of spiritual healing and medicine. Hospice care in particular have taken a key interest in integrating spirituality within their health care. The problem is that due to the complications in defining spirituality and appropriate training and education of spirituality within nursing curriculum, assessing patients' spiritual distress may be difficult for many hospice nurses which may be at a loss when attempting to integrate spirituality within their practice. This study used a phenomenological approach to explore the infusion of spirituality in nursing practice and the hospice nurses perceptions of assessing spiritual distress needs of terminally ill patients. Frankl's existential theory and Kubler- Ross's stages of grief theory framed the study. Participants included 8 hospice nurses working in a Pacific Northwestern state. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the essence of the experience of integrating spirituality as well as their views and concerns regarding assessment instruments used to assess spiritual distress. Data was analyzed for content themes. The study found that spiritual courses were merged into hospice nursing as a teaching unity making it difficult for hospice nurses in a Pacific Northwestern State to fully grasp the concept of spirituality. Further findings suggested that only a handful of schools had spiritual nursing as an independent course. The study may impact social change by informing the advancement of hospice nurses and hospice administrators in the practice of including spirituality within healthcare and integrating extensive existential support training within nurses' curriculum.

This thesis provides an ethnographic account of the journey from diagnosis with a life-limiting illness to the end of life. It tracks the lives and eventual deaths of eight people and 83 family members for a period of three and a half years in total. Culture is located as a central element or lens by which to view this journey. The role, function and issues for social work as a profession are discussed in various chapters. The theoretical underpinnings of the thesis are informed by the ecological perspective combined with psychosocial theories of loss and grief. Drawing on a broad social systems theory, in conjunction with an ethnographic methodology and grounded theory analysis, contributes to the development of research which firmly takes culture into account. Four primary topic areas are presented: a narrative exploration of diagnosis, the changing landscape that participants encounter, the embodiment of new places and spaces, and finally, the journey’s end. The themes from the four topic areas contribute to the development of the two core categories “time and place” and “preparedness for death”. A schematic representation of the paths participants took is provided in the discussion of the core categories. Lastly, the New Zealand Palliative Care Strategy (Ministry of Health, 2001) is drawn on to aid the discussion of issues arising from the research and the implications for practice in this field.

This dissertation is about pastoral care and counselling to elderly people to keep them visible within our faith communities. The research is a reflection and a re-telling of the lives of five elderly people who shared their stories with me. I heard them talk about ageing as an ongoing journey that is not always smooth. To grow older includes a lot of changes and a reassessment of lifestyles and goals as well as the danger of becoming invisible to others. Visibility cannot be maintained without communities of support, and care within communities of shared prophetic mission. A pastoral therapist must convey the Christian message of care by healing and caring solidarity, co-constructing new narratives of hope, and bringing back visibility to the elderly. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

The thesis describes the perception of dying and death among Werich family members, who were clients of Home hospice Tabita. The study is accompanied by an interview with Mr. Werich that took care of his dying wife. The observation has been performed by myself as an employee of Home Hospice Tabita. Facts obtained from the interview are supported by expert literature and my own participant observation. The study demonstrates what the dying families have in common, but also shows the specifics of individual cases. Although the hospice is based on Christian principles, it may profesionally and efectively work with non-Christian family members as well.

The degree work deals with the present attitude of Romanies to death and dying, and especially the Romany funeral. The work aim is the reflexion on the Romany perspective of death and dying including their special characteristics (customs, rituals, traditions) in view of these days. The work is divided into four chapters, in which theoretical and practical knowledge is entwined and complemented. The first three chapters dwell on death, life after death and funeral rituals in general, and further on Romany history connected to their death and dying and contemporary Romany funeral traditions, including Romany faith in afterlife and spirits of the dead. The last chapter of the degree work summarizes the knowledge of the previous three chapters, and it is the very mentioned reflexion of the attitude of Romanies to death and dying.

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