Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-75). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (M.T.S.)--Catholic Theological Union, 1984. / Bibliography: leaves 43-45.

Communication is an important component in care for the patients. As human beings, we are all mortal, thus, communication at the end of life is a topic that is significant for all of us. Research on communication with dying patients who suffered from incurable illness is relatively insufficient in China given the fact that palliative care originated in the West. Moreover, previous research focused more on the communication between patients and medical staff who shoulder the majority work for taking care of the patients. There is relatively little research looking into volunteers' experience in communicating with dying patients. Communicating with dying patients is the experience that can cause anxiety and stress. As patients with advanced and incurable cancers have exhausted their social contacts due to the prolonged illnesses and people's general anxiety to communicate with dying people, their shrinking social contacts will result in isolation, which will trigger emotional pain in addition to the physical pain. Volunteers come to assist in caring for them as a form of social support for the dying people, and their communication experience is valuable for any caregivers of dying patients. The researcher of the study directly engaged with the activities of a group of volunteers in Shenzhen for six months, doing ethnography and semi- structured interviews, so as to understand the practices and meanings of volunteers' communication with dying patients. The results showed that three main dimensions emerged, namely, isolation and connection, dependence and autonomy, discontinuity and continuity. Volunteers adopted various communication skills so as to make patients feel that they are still connected to others, enjoy certain degree of autonomy over their body like the healthy people and let them move on in the last phase of their life. They also suggest that there should be more investigations in the end-of-life communication

No description available.

M.A. / In sub-Saharan Africa the importance of understanding the illness and dying experiences of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) is underlined by the fact that some 30 million people are already infected with HIV. Yet, there has been precious little research on chronic illness and dying within the sociology of health and illness. This dissertation begins to address this gap by considering the question ‘how does care of AIDS patients inform a sociology of illness and dying?’ It is argued that AIDS related chronic illness and dying are best understood within the AIDS care context. A theoretical model of quality AIDS care (QACM) was constructed, and highlights access, physical and psychosocial aspects of care. This was evaluated in relation to two South African hospices, both located on the Witwatersrand. In addition, a telephonic survey was undertaken in order to situate the two case studies within a national context of hospice-based AIDS-care. Some of the valuable refinements made to the literature QACM include new staff motivators, self-contained funding, additional dietary concerns, more cost-effective treatments, the importance of stigma, patient-patient support and the advent of hospice day-care centres. It was concluded that caregiver and patient needs must be met to ensure quality care provision. Three noteworthy conclusions were drawn. Firstly, the QACM was found to be a sound reflection of hospice AIDS-care reality. Secondly, the case hospices sufficiently subscribed to the required care standards, but improvements are warranted. Thirdly, and most importantly, the study highlights the impact of stigma on the chronic illness and dying experiences of PLWHAs. This study has taken a small step in the right direction by providing some sociological insights into chronic illness and dying, by the application of Northern-centric literature to the developing context of South African hospice AIDS-care. Further investigations may serve to bear these conclusions out, in alternative care settings, in order to further develop the sociology of illness and dying. / Prof. J.M. Uys Prof. P. Alexander.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-200). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 194-200). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [60]-61).

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes special report study entitled: Man, nature and architecture : design methodology of Tadao Ando. Includes bibliographical references.