Psychology of Death and Dying
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- What was the death rate in 1900's?
- 17.2% per 1,000 people in population
- What was the death rate in 1954?
- 9.2% per 1,000 people in population
- What was the declining death rate from 1900's to 1954?
- 47%
- What was the 2007 death rate?
- 8 people per 1,000 in population
- What could have accounted for decline in death rate?
- Advancement in medicine and medical field improving in technology
- What variables in society effect death?
- gender, race, social class
- Why do lower socio economic families have higher death encounters?
- lower education, safety, neighborhoods, nutrition, access to healthcare
- Do males or females have higher death rates?
- Males
- Which other developed countries have lower death rates? Why?
- Netherlands and Switzerland because of universal healthcare
- Has there been a reduction of death rates since 1900's?
- Yes. 162 per 1,000 infants vs 6.75 per 1,000 infants
- What other countries have lower child death rates than U.S.?
- Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Spain
- Has prenatal and postnatal mother deaths improved in U.S.?
- Yes. 608 per 100,000 live births vs. 12.7 per 100,000 live births
- Where did most deaths occur in 1900's vs. today?
- Most deaths occurred in home with family and people without care died in hospitals. Today, 68% of people die in hospitals or nursing homes.
- How does Mass Media effect death?
- people are intrigued by death which impacts the portrayal of death and dying that is influential to our response
- How do newscasters portray death?
- Media makes us survivors of natural disasters, terrorism, etc. but also produces mass sorrow with events such as 9/11 and Katrina.
- Examples of entertaining death
- Soap Operas, Cartoons, Video Games, TV Series
- Effects of Media Portrayal of Violence
- lessens sensitivity to real violence and contributes to sense of danger and mistrust in community
- Examples of Death Talk
- people avoid using words death and dying Euphemisms- pass away, laid to rest Metaphors- "gone home" Slang- "kicked the bucket"
- How do you speak of someone who passed away?
- only in positive way, highlight positive aspects and accomplishments in life. Found in every culture
- Examples of Music portraying death
- Elton John- Candle in the Wind
- Examples of Literature portraying death
- Shakespeare's Macbeth, Homers Iliad
- Examples of Visual Art portraying death
- Most cultures use skull or bones to depict death, memorials built in honor of war victims
- How is Humor used in death
- coping mechanism to diffuse anxiety, elderly discuss with a joking matter to avoid taboo subject. Allows family to recall funny events.
- How does Humor help those coping with death?
- helpful for personnel working in E.R. to distance themselves from tragedies but no humor made at expense of deceased
- What factors affect death and dying?
- Life expectancy and Mortality Rates, Changing causes of death, Geographic Mobility, Displacement of Death from the home, Life Extending Technologies, Preventive Care and Cure oriented Medicine, and Lifestyle
- How has life expectancy rates changed?
- Since 1900's, life expectancy has increased from 47 to 78 years.
- What contributes to reduced death rate at young age?
- Vaccines and Anitbiotics
- What allows elderly to survive now vs. 1900's?
- Survival of degenerative diseases
- Examples of acute infectious diseases in 1900's
- Pneumonia and Tuberculosis. Sudden onset death following these diseases
- Examples of Chronic Illness today
- Heart Disease ( #1) and Cancer (#2). Slow deteriorating death with death following months after.
- Effects of geographic mobility on death
- People moving all over country rather than staying in general area like in 1900's resulting in people not being present at death.
- Are higher socioeconomic families likely to live closer or farther apart?
- Farther
- Effects of death on displacement from home
- 1900's people died in home, family maintained vigil, provided care. Today people die in hospital or nursing home with all responsibilities placed on funeral directors
- Does technology prolong life or extend life?
- Debates on if person still has dignity when dying along with legal issues arising between families.
- Benefits of Cure Oriented Medicine and Vaccines
- Vaccines now preventive from communicable diseases such as Small Pox which increase life expectancy
- How does lifestyle effect death
- Half of all U.S. deaths can be prevented due to underlying causes such as lack of exercise, poor nutrition and tobacco
- Children and Death at age 3
- Most children at age 3 understand death as a changed state but confuse with sleeping
- Experience with Death and Children
- Children who experience at first hand such as death of a parent, sibling or friend develop a mature concept vs age group
- Experience with Death and Adults
- Adults fully grasp concepts and deal with emotionally, socially and financially be seeking religion
- Universality
- All living things will die. Death is inevitable and avoidable
- Irreversibility
- Death is final. Organisms that die cannot be brought back to life.
- Non-Functionality
- All life defining bodily functions and capabilities cease to exist
- Causality
- Biological reasons for occurrence of death Internal (disease) and external (trauma) factors
- How developed the stages of children's concept of death?
- Maria Nagy
- What are the stages in the concept of death for children?
- Stage 1 ( 3 to 5 years) Stage 2 ( 5 to 9 years) Stage 3 ( 9 to adulthood)
- What occurs in Stage 1 of concept of death for children?
- Children understand death as being less alive. The dead "live on" and can still come back to life (temporary) Ex. Sleeping
- What occurs in Stage 2 of concept of death for children?
- Children understand death as final. They perceive death as avoidable and lacking inevitability. The are likely to think of death as applicable to them.
- What occurs in Stage 3 of concept of death for children?
- Children recognize death as a result of the biological process that is final, inevitable and universal. We all die at some point.
- What are Erikson's stages of Psychosocial development?
- Trust vs Mistrust ( Birth to 2 years) Autonomy vs Shame ( 2 to 3 years) Initiative vs Guilt ( 3 to 6 years) Industry vs Inferiority ( 6 to 11 years) Identity vs Role Confusion ( 11 to 18 years)
- What is Autonomy vs. Shame?
- Children like to be independent in this stage Example: Demand to carry own dishes and they drop the dishes and they break. If parent reprimands this could result in shame, must tell them its okay and enforce them.
- What is Initiative vs. Guilt?
- Children want to help, sense of duty, helping others Example: Clean up a spill, water plant = Parents Positive Reinforcement Guilt occurs if Child spills water while watering plant and is reprimanded by parents.
- What is Industry vs. Inferiority?
- Children want to be creative, exposure to new friends and ideas in school. Able to exercise ideas in creative ways. Example: Create new drawing, parent hangs up on friends and praises allowing children to be more creative. Inferiority if parents says drawing looks nothing like what child says it should be.
- What is Identity vs Role Confusion
- Identify who we want to be, important role models such as family, friends, coach, teacher, etc. Role Confusion if child wants to be a celebrity on television and a pastor in the church at same time.
- Examples of Native American Death Traditions
- Nomadic tribes prepare death songs to confront after life. Confrontation is heroic while sedentary tribes express more fear of dead
- Religions and Death
- Catholicism allows cremation, Muslims forbid cremation, Judaism does not allow embalming but it's required by law
- African American Death Traditions
- Communion with living dead (masquerades are considered visible ghosts of ancestors) Death is a positive aspect, funerals celebrate their life Modern Trends: elaborate newspaper obituaries
- What is Reverence of Ancestors in African American Traditions
- Deceased still have a stake in society and crucial to give attention and respect to avoid wrath
- Collectivist Cultures of African Americans value what?
- Interdependence and Family support to cope with death
- Why do most Africa Americans prefer to care for elderly in their home?
- Due to historical experience of oppression and discrimination,there is a mistrust in the medical community. *African Americans believe they receive less healthcare than whites ( 2001)
- What is the percent of African Americans vs Caucasian who die in the home?
- 53% of African Americans die at home vs. 38% caucasian
- What do African Americans resist in making Advanced plans for treatment at end of life?
- Less likely to use hospice service or donate organs (may be associated with spiritual belief and that health care might speed up death if seeking an organ)
- African Americans and Catharsis
- Following death, the church service is a primary forum of Catharsis and open expressiveness which is designed to evoke high emotional expression with music and eulogy
- Tuskegee Study
- purposely infected African Americans to see long term effects of Syphilis without consent or knowledge to victims lead to mistrust in medical commnunity
- Hispanic Traditions of Death and Dying
- blending of indigenous ritual with spanish/catholic influence communion between dead and living Fiesta like celebrations: "All Soul's day" which is a feast in memory of dead Family is key role in planning and providing care for dying
- Hispanic Religion and Death
- Catholicism influences attitudes of pre death and after life such as anointing of sick, requiem mass, prayers to dead, burial
- Mexican Day of the Dead Importance
- Important to fulfill Catholic procedures in order to provide a continuous relationship with life and death and ongoing cycle that living with reunite with dead in afterlife
- Gender differences in confrontation with Death of Hispanics
- mourning process usually includes open expression of grief but differs by gender ( females cry openly, males expected to be strong)
- Dia de Los Muertos Celebration
- celebration, visit grave with flowers, display items of deceased at alters, food offering to spirits
- Asian Death Traditions
- heterogeneous in terms of origin and generations in U.S. influence extent of religious practices Communal relationship with dead and living along with reciprocal relationships Disagreement about appropriateness of funeral traditions
- Who makes death decisions and planning in Asian Families?
- Patriarchal and Hierarchal: oldest male in family, important to have a surviving son
- Hindu Death Traditions
- Faith centered on transmigration of the soul with indefinite reincarnation
- Hindu Traditions and afterlife body depends on what?
- If good in current life you receive a whole body. If bad in current life you will be lacking an essential element such as eyesight or hearing.
- Hindu's are in search of this as there soul is reincarnated...
- In hopes to become purer in reach of God
- What does the Priest tie around a dying Hindu's neck?
- Ties a thread around neck and recites Hindu writings
- What is the responsibility of the eldest son (or male) in Hindu religion?
- Set fire to the pyre
- Are Hindu's cremated?
- Yes, customary to be cremated then ashes spread along Gange River or "body is sent home" on river.
- What is the final service of the funeral for the Hindu's?
- Kriya, performed on the 11th day where priest recites "death is certain for the born, rebirth is certain for the dead, you shouldn't grieve for the unavoidable"
- Who founded the Muslim Religion?
- Prophet Muhammad in 7th century believing everybody is accountable to god for actions on earth
- What occurs at death in Muslim Religion?
- People are judged based on life and are either awarded or punished in after life
- What is the religious book in Muslim Religion?
- Koran
- Describe proper burial for a Muslim
- Same sex family member washes body and recites Koran then clothed in white and buried within 24 hours without coffin with head of deceased turned to left shoulder to face Mecca. Men take body to graveside or church for prayer
- What is forbidden after death in Muslim Religion?
- Postmortem examination, cremation and donation is forbidden because Islam's believe the person is not the owner of the body so it should not be cut or harmed.
- Do Muslims practice open or closed expression of grief?
- Open expression of grief, unconcealed sorrow to allow healing for family