DyingWell:The Hospice Movement

Catalog description

This course examines how people across cultures and throughout history have responded to the challenge of dying. It will examine cultural practices relating to treatment of the death and to care of the dying, as well as the process of confronting one's own death from a psychological perspective. After describing the limitations of the traditional medical (curative) model's approach to death, the course will study the hospice movement: its history, philosophy, and practices of caring. In addition to specific models and essential components of hospice care, administrative issues (legal, reimbursement, human resources) will be addressed. This course will include presentations by and interviews with hospice workers, as well as a survey of hospices in the metropolitan area. This course includes a weekly service-learning requirement.