Purpose: The response of each child to terminal illness treatment is highly individual. This will certainly affect the level and type of perceived needs. This study is conducted to examine the needs of children with terminal illness from the perspective of nurses and parents. Method: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted in this research.…

This qualitative study examined messages of everyday communication (small talk and routine interactions). The importance of these messages was highlighted in light of their role in creating structure, safety, and meaning making in the family at the end of life. In addition, family rituals that developed from children's everyday communication were…

The stress of a spelling bee or a challenging science project can enhance a student's focus and promote learning. But the stress of a dysfunctional or unstable home life can poison a child's cognitive ability for a lifetime, according to new research. Those studies show that stress forms the link between childhood adversity and poor academic…

Background: Formal training in dealing with death and dying issues is not a standard content area in communication sciences and disorders programmes' curricula. At the same time, it cannot be presumed that pre-professional students' personal background equips them to deal with these issues. Aim: To investigate the perceptions of pre-professional…

How might counseling professionals interact with clients facing their own or a loved one's serious illness or death and help prepare them for this severe stress and loss? Counseling professionals are encouraged to do no harm, be sensitive to beliefs and traditions, use life stories, and help resolve unfinished business.

Student nurses are involved in caring for patients who are actively dying or who have been told they have a terminal illness and are faced with the process of dying. Students encounter these patients in hospitals, nursing homes, at home or in hospice care settings. According to Robinson (2004), "nurses are the healthcare providers that are most…

Few resources seem to be available to support school communities that have a child whose death is anticipated. The present article draws on the experiences of school staff and special education employees who have been involved in New Zealand school communities where a child was terminally ill and died. These experiences could help other school…

The study surveyed 135 health care professionals (74 nurses, 32 physicians, and 29 social workers) to examine their personal death attitudes and experiences in relation to their reported advance directive communication practice behavior. Negative correlations were found between collaborating with other health care professionals regarding the…

Describes a Texas elementary school's efforts to cope with the special needs of Kenneth, a fourth grader slowly dying of kidney cancer. Besides learning their subjects like other students, Kenneth's classmates learned how to care. Every student volunteered to be Kenneth's assistant and was enriched by the boy's positive attitude and determination…

This article presents a review of the literature on counseling adults with terminal illness, particularly the literature on the nature of preparation that counselors and other professionals who attend to the needs of adults with a terminal illness require. The authors review information and findings from philosophical, psychological, practical,…

This article discusses students with terminal illnesses and the challenges teachers face in dealing with the issue of death. Classroom strategies for dealing with death are described and include using children's literature that explores death, using deaths of pets as teachable moments, and using children's films. (Contains references.) (CR)

Describes four modes of positive survival with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and analyzes them as they appear in support groups for people with AIDS. Sees beneficent, artistic-spiritual, heroic, and rational-instrumental survival modes as compromise solutions to fears of life and death described by Rank. Calls analysis nonpejorative…

Author explains why he disagrees with concept of rational suicide, asserting that what some see as basis for rational suicide, he sees as basis for therapy. Discusses particular circumstances of the very old, disabled, and terminally ill. Contends that effective psychotherapy is possible with terminally ill. Concludes that, although he opposes…

Presents a model of transpersonal intervention that social work clinicians can use when working with terminally-ill clients. Model assumes that individuals possess a level of transpersonal development, with related dimensions of spiritual awareness and personal death perspective; the degree of interrelatedness of these two dimensions influences…

Administered measures of overt and covert fear of death to 20 healthy men and 13 men diagnosed with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Groups did not differ significantly on overt measure; AIDS group had higher total scores on covert measure. Findings suggest that one's life trajectory is redefined when the diagnosis of terminal illness…