“Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes

are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained.”

― Jonathan Harnisch, Freak

5.1 - Overview

Facing Death

The purpose of Homework Assignment #5 is to: (a) provide you with an appreciation of the many facets we all must consider when facing the prospects of a life-threatening illness in oneself or in others we love, and (b) to provide you with "hands on experience" in learning more about treatment and alternative therapies.

5.2 - Using The Internet To Conduct Psych Research

Researching Thanatology

Theme: For completing this "Internet Research Project," you are to seek out one of the following: (a) a scientific journal article, (b) a national media article or, (c) a Website that discusses, provides a fact sheet, or reports other such findings.

Task: Using one or more of the above resources, discuss some aspect of facing a life-threatening illness in oneself or in a loved one. Topics might include treatment options such as surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy organ transplantation or adjunctive or alternative therapies. Your report is to be in the form of a "discussion paper." You are urged to use the Internet exclusively, though you may use Plover Library or other such "land-based" resources.

The link below will take you to "Dying Matters", an excellent resource for managing the many issues surrounding life-threatening illnesses and diseases.

Dying Matters

Doyle Library

The following link is for the American Cancer Society's national Website. Since cancer, which is a major cluster of diseases, effects so many millions of Americans, this resource may prove quite helpful to you in completing this assignment. You are free however to use any resources you wish.

American Cancer Society

5.3 - Psychology Based Websites

Using Internet Tools To Learn About Death and Dying

Task: For the following psychologically oriented Website, report back what you learned from exploring any one of the many sub-categories listed. A tightly written typed, single-spaced page--sharing what you learned and what your reactions were, would be most appreciated.

Professor's Favorite Section: "Symptom Management"

Death & Dying Resources- American Psychological Association

5.4 - Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery Field Trip (Optional)

A Multi-Cultural View of Gravestones and History

Please note that this field trip is optional, since many online students live nowhere near Santa Rosa. So it is optional as an extra credit project. Dr. J. Davis Mannino [August 15, 2021]

You are encouraged to take the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery Field Trip. The address is Franklin at Silva--can't miss it. Look for the display board and brochure holder. While the tour is optional, generous extra credit will be given to those who take it.

The following link takes you to a presentation that I have developed. Please review it carefully as it requires completion of specific tasks. You will need to print out the link and send your report to your professor by "snail mail" in order to receive extra credit points.

Santa Rosa Historical Rural Cemetery Field Trip (Optional) Rural Cemetery Tour - Santa Rosa , CA - Extra Credit

5.5 - Reading Assignment - Chapter 7

Title: Facing Death: Living with Life-Threatening Illness

Your primary textbooks include The Last Dance (11th ed.) by Lynne Ann DeSpelder and Albert Lee Strickland (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2020) .

Primary Readings

As you read Chapter 7, "Facing Death: Living with Life-Threatening Illness," you should keep in mind the following key questions and core concepts.

Content Overview

When life-threatening illness is made to seem taboo, it creates difficulties in communication and hampers social support.
Life-threatening illness is costly, personally as well as socially and spiritually.
The adaptive response to losses associated with life-threatening illness changes as circumstances change.
The response to illness is shaped by personality, family patterns, and social environment.
Four primary dimensions in coping with life-threatening illness are physical, psychological, social, and spiritual.
The awareness contexts relative to dying patients, families, and caregivers include closed awareness, suspected awareness, mutual pretense, and open awareness.
The manner in which individuals cope with life-threatening illness is described in terms of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s pioneering stage-based approach as well as more recent task-oriented, phase-oriented, and pattern-oriented approaches.
Maintaining coping potency in the face of life-threatening illness requires access to both inner and external resources.
The options for treatment of serious illness vary according to the illness and ongoing developments in medical knowledge; withholding or discontinuing treatment may also be an option.
Alternative therapies encompass adjunctive or complementary therapies, as well as unorthodox therapies.
Pain management is an essential component of a comprehensive treatment plan.
Studies of the dying trajectory distinguish two main types: (1) a lingering trajectory whereby death takes place gradually and over an extended period of time, and (2) a quick trajectory whereby death is the outcome of an acute medical crisis.
The social role of a dying patient differs between cultural groups and among individuals and families.
Being with someone who is dying is often a precious and intimate experience.

Objectives

To list representative personal and social meanings of life-threatening illness.
To describe and assess patterns of coping with life-threatening illness.
To identify and assess treatment strategies for life-threatening illness.
To assess the benefits and risks of complementary and alternative therapies.
To summarize essential strategies for pain management.
To distinguish among various dying trajectories.
To explain the factors influencing the social role of the dying patient and to create an ideal model.
To acknowledge the feelings of being with someone who is dying.

Key Terms & Concepts

active dying
acute pain
adjuvant therapy
biopsy
cancer
chemotherapy
chronic pain
closed awareness
complementary and alternative medicine
coping potency
coping strategies
defense mechanisms
ethnomedicine
five stages
life review
life-threatening illness
magical thinking
metastasis
middle knowledge
mutual pretense
object of hope
open awareness
pain management
placebo
prognosis
remission
social death
suffering
suspected awareness
symbolic healing
terminality
total pain
trajectory of dying
unorthodox treatment
visualization

Questions For Guided Study and Evaluation

Identify the personal and social costs of life-threatening illness.
Describe possible reactions of the patient, friends, and family to news of a life-threatening diagnosis.
Compare the four patterns of family interaction identified by Glaser and Strauss.
Appraise the Kübler-Ross stage-based model of coping with dying versus Corr’s model of coping dimensions, Weisman’s task model, Rando’s patterns approach, and Doka’s phase model.
Suggest at least five different ways of coping with life-threatening illness.
Assess the comparative benefits of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy in treating cancer and describe how each functions to eradicate cancer cells.
Evaluate the role of complementary and alternative therapies in an overall treatment plan.
Identify and give examples of three basic approaches to pain management.
Compare and contrast three distinctive dying trajectories.
Describe and give examples of social support for people with life-threatening illness.
Differentiate the social role of dying patients from that of patients who anticipate recovery.

Task 5.5: In the section above entitled: "Questions For Guided Study And Evaluation," briefly discuss any two questions you wish. Be sure to have enough length and quality to properly respond to each question.

Related Link: John Webster keenly noted, "I know death has ten thousand several doors for men to take their exits." Indeed how we die, is nearly as important to many, as when we die.

The following link provides you with some important information on assessing family caregiver needs, from a policy and practice perspective Caregivers can sometimes become so concerned about taking care of their loved ones, that they lose sight of their own needs, health, and well-being. This helpful "Fact Sheet" from the AARP Public Policy Institute thinks its important for caregivers to ask themselves: "How are you doing?"

Task: Provide a reaction response to what you discovered and learned.

Assessing Family Caregiver Needs: Policy and Practice Considerations

Practice Quiz - Chapter #7

In this section you will find a practice quiz for each assigned textbook chapter in The Last Dance. The quiz is presented in a link below.

Psych 56 - Chapter #7 Quiz - "Facing Death"

5.6 - "Grieving Days, Healing Days" - The Workbook

Learning Through "Hands-On" Doing

Overview: Grieving Days, Healing Days (GDHD), is an interactive workbook written by Dr. J. Davis Mannino, 1996 - 2022 and formerly published by Simon & Schuster, 1996. It is required for this course, because specific pages in the workbook are assigned as part of each module homework assignment that you complete. The good news is you need not purchase Grieving Days, Healing Days (GDHD). I have uploaded all readings and activities you will need for this course.

Assignments to complete in GDHD will be listed in a similar section for each of the 15 module homework assignments for this course. Generally speaking, assignments are due by the module assigned date. Modules are loaded with workbook selections (readings, exercises, and activities) that will enhance your learning of many important topics in the study of aging, dying, and death --- a field that is known as "thanatology."

It is also important to remember that certain uploaded workbook pages will be required reading for assignments that you choose to complete elsewhere; such as extra-credit. Therefore, always read and complete all workbook pages assigned as part of all module course requirements.

GDHD Workbook Reading Assignments

1. At minimum, read and complete ANY THREE of the following assignments from Grieving Days, Healing Days. Please note that while only three assigned readings and activities need proof of completion, the entire selection of assignments below should be read and reviewed. Though not required, have some fun and complete them all!

Problem is Terminal, p. 69

Meditation, p. 81
Assisting in Someone's Grief, p. 82
Unfinished Business, p. 83
Making Final Plans for a Death, p. 87
Fears in a Dying Person's Life, p. 91
Losses in a Dying Person's Life, p. 92
Kubler-Ross's Five Psychological Stages of Dying, p. 93
Life Reflection Scrapbook, p. 94
Getting Your Personal Affairs in Order, p. 95
Poetic Will, p. 117
Using NOLO Press's WillMaker, p. 118
Final Letter, p. 119
Dying Trajectory, p. 125
We've Got Your Number!, p. 126

5.7 - Course Discussion Board

Module #5 - Thought Provoking Question (TPQ) or Article

Overview: The purpose of a course discussion board is to allow students and professor an opportunity to interact about topics of common interest. A discussion board is also a fine tool to share commonly asked questions, answers, and concerns.

You are urged to use the message board, when you have questions that you think others may wish to know; when you have technical questions or answers that others may wish to know, and to share other useful tidbits with each other. I want each of you to become familiar with the message board system.

Once you have composed your thoughts and written them down in a word application program [i.e., Microsoft word] --- with grammar and spell check---you follow through with posting (copy and pasting) them. Remember, to be sure you also post your comments in the appropriate place in the task boxes that links later in this assignment. You only do this if you are also submitting this ENTIRE assignment as one of your required four online assignments for this course.

Task: In each class module, there will be one thought-provoking course related question or article for which discussion is expected from students. While not always directly related to assigned readings, they have important course-wide implications. You are expected to respond to each TPQ by the end of each class module's deadline Be sure to place the question/article module number (#) in the "subject line" so your classmates will know which module topic you are addressing.

Since there is only one "thought-provoking question or article " (TPQ) due per module during the regular semester, a minimum response of 250 to 500 words is required for each message board TPQ posting. Also, students need to post a TPQ for EACH of the 15 online assignments.

This Assignment's Thought Provoking Question (TPQ) or Article

The following link is a graded assignment for the TPQ. (1) Click on the link below, (2) read the TPQ or article, and then (3) respond in the student posting area provided at the end of the article.

Thought Provoking Reading #5 - "Using Positivism in Caregiving."

5.8 - Death: A Personal Understanding

Overview: A “Hint of a Whisper of Enjoyment!”

Welcome to a new video feature for my online course in Aging, Dying, and Death! The goal is to provide at least a "hint of a whisper of enjoyment" from the ordinary, mundane, and often boring, classroom experience!

Each class module has a selection from a fascinating collection of YouTube video clips I have gathered. These instructional videos clips on aging, dying, and death are intended for college classrooms and adult learners. The selection of clips provided over the course of this class, were researched carefully by your professor, and in many cases recommended by former students.

The influence of digital videos on our everyday culture is undeniable. Online video sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Metacafe boast monthly audience numbers in the millions! With digital videos continuing to gain popularity, it seems only natural that this familiar and widespread platform should extend into the educational setting.

Students today are utilizing educational videos as a tool for learning everything from changing a tire to the latest dance craze. Remarkably, millennials make up 92% of the digital video viewing audience. Abstract topics that once seemed difficult to teach and learn are now more accessible and understandable thanks to the availability of educational videos.

Studies have shown that the use of short video clips allows for more efficient processing and memory recall. The visual and auditory nature of videos appeals to a wide audience and allows each user to process information in a way that’s natural to them.

Gain a greater understanding of aging, dying and death through case studies and moving personal stories of people facing their own death or the death of a loved one. This series explores a wide range of North American cultural perspectives on death within the context of current issues

Directions: Simply click on the video link below and enjoy. Captioning Note: For my students with disability challenges, there is a "closed captioning" option with each clip in this video series. I enjoy watching the video clip with captioning on as I have some hearing problems and I can catch everything everyone is saying; especially if they are not talking clearly.

Video # 5 - A Crash Course in Philosophy - Perspectives on Death – Supports One’s Understanding of Philosophical and Spiritual aspects of death and dying 9.00 mins].

Today we are talking about death, looking at philosophical approaches from Socrates, Epicurus, and Zhuangzi. We will consider whether it’s logical to fear your own death, or the deaths of your loved ones. Hank also discusses Thomas Nagel, death, and Fear of Missing Out.

Task: When done reviewing this assigned video clip, prepare a thorough reaction statement at the "Graded Responses Go Here!" section link described further down at the end of this module assignment.

Crash Course in Philosophy - Perspectives on Death

5.9 - Module Assignment #5 Responses

Composing Your Responses To Module #5 (Helpful Directions)

Overview: For each course module there is a major homework assignment that must be completed. Each of these module homework assignments has several tasks. Some entail reading, some include exploring and reviewing websites, reviewing videos, and still others involve written tasks --- work that ALL must be submitted for review and/or grading.

Responses to "tasks" must be sent on time or you will either fail the assignment or be severely penalized. Late homework assignments are perceived as both a student who is "absent from class" and who is "late with work." Please always maintain a backup copy of all your written work. Glitches occur in online technology-based education, but ultimately it is your responsibility to maintain adequate backup of all work submitted. You are also encouraged to compose your work within a word-processing application and then "copy and paste" into assigned module "task boxes." This is so you may avail yourself of spell and grammar check options provided in most modern word processing software.

Please be aware that all submissions are automatically received by the course "gradebook," where they will be evaluated by your professor for acceptance, rejection, or acceptance with penalty. So make sure your work is received promptly. Much the same way that attendance is determined by you presence in the traditional classroom at the regularly scheduled class time, so too is attendance determined by your prompt submission of assignments while enrolled in an online course. Furthermore, arriving to class without homework or with incomplete homework is also perceived in the same manner with an online course. Accordingly, you are encouraged to submit you weekly work prior to deadlines, to avoid computer glitches, "downtime," and other "technological spills and inconveniences."

Directions: Each numbered task box listed below corresponds with tasks described in each module's homework assignment. Usually, tasks outlined on this webpage require written reactions and/or responses.

Be sure to follow directions carefully and precisely when completing each task. "A word to the wise!" Minimal work receives a minimal grade. For example, if a task asks that you provide a written paragraph or two, and you provide just that, then you have provided only minimal work. Simply said, minimal work is "C" work. Well thought out writing that exceeds both excellence and minimal length (word count) and quality requirements is, generally speaking, graded higher and indicative of a "good and solidly motivated student." However length in of itself does not assure quality either, so learn to strike a balance. Good luck!

Particulars: Remember this module is due by a certain date or will be penalized. Overly late assignments may NOT be accepted at all, and at minimum, marked down. The discretion of the professor rules in all such matters. Was your assignment "Online and Ontime?" Before beginning this module homework assignment be sure you understand the word count and quality requirements --- 550 to 750 words --- depending on grade desire). See Grading Policy in Course Basics at the Course Syllabus for further information regarding requirements and grading of module submissions.

ALL students are responsible for completing ALL 15 modules and having a moderate understanding of each. Don't cheat yourself out of a good education.

Module Assignment #5 - Graded Responses Go Here!

Dr. J. Davis Mannino - Modified February, 2023