SW 617, Section 001 Instructors: Death, Loss, and Grief Sally Schmall, MSW Winter 2008 [email protected] 764-2430 Tuesdays 8-11 SEB 2228 Kathy Wade, PhD. [email protected] 764-8052 OH: Please feel free to make appointments or ask questions via e-mail Mon - Fri. Sally is also available before class and Kathy is available after class. Course Description This course will address the theoretical framework of human loss and grief from a culturally and philosophically diverse perspective. Students will be provided with information about why and how humans grieve and how grieving is affected by type of loss, socioeconomic and cultural factors, individual personality and family functioning. Attention will be focused on life span development and the meaning of death and loss at different ages. Various types of loss will be discussed from an individual, family, and socio/cultural perspective. The importance of understanding trauma and its relationship to grief and loss will also be addressed. Coping and resiliency in loss will be explored, emphasizing the diversity of human response and focusing on the significance of social groups in integrating loss. The formation and practice of rituals, and diversity in religious and spiritual experience as a component of coping with loss will be discussed. Course Content This course will begin with an overview of the historical treatment of death and bereavement in dominant Unites States culture. Contemporary attitudes about death and grief will be examined in this context and will include the examination of current themes in understanding dying and bereaved persons. Significant attention will be placed on understanding the diversity of reactions to death, loss, and grief within diverse dimensions (including ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation). The impact of poverty on dying and bereavement will be discussed, as well as the policy decisions that direct funding as it impacts dying individuals and their families. The ethical debates in the right-to-die movement and social issues about quality of life will also be explored.SW 617, Sec. 001 Winter, 2008 - 2 - Explanatory models for bereavement and grief will be discussed including: psychoanalytic models, attachment models, stress and crisis models, cognitive and behavioral models, illness and disease models, sociobiological models, and holistic models. Developmental approaches to understanding chronic illness and individual and family functioning while dying will be addressed, as well as current standards of care in social work involvement with the dying person and family. The function of health care systems for the dying and funeral care for the dead will be discussed. Social organizations for the dying and bereaved will be explored. Gender differences in grieving immigration and cultural losses, responses to war and natural disasters will also be discussed. The theory of complicated mourning will be introduced and will be related both to developmental theory and trauma theory. Examples of complicated mourning will be discussed and will include the phenomena of disenfranchised and stigmatized loss. The identification and assessment of symptoms of complicated mourning will be introduced. Death resulting from violence, like homicide or suicide, and violence in communities and its impact on a person’s capacity to grieve will be explored. Counseling the dying and grieving and its impact on the social worker will be discussed, as well as ways that professionals can care for themselves. The special concerns of children and loss will be examined. Aging, grief, and loss will be discussed and current research about losses in aging will be addressed. This course will also examine broader cultural implications for living with loss, including responses to cultural genocide (both historically and currently). Finally, an exploration into the development of grief responses on an individual and communal level will be made. Course Objectives On completion of this course, the student will be able to: 1. Understand the implications for practice and policy of the changing patterns of death/dying in the U.S., regarding socioeconomic status, age, gender, and cultural/ethnic patterns. 2. Understand the different meanings of loss and the impact of loss on those grieving, caregivers, and larger social groups. 3. Identify and describe responses and reactions of the various caregivers (including social workers) to death and loss and the impact of these reactions on client systems. 4. Demonstrate increased awareness of the medical ethical issues in death and dying. 5. Summarize the different theoretical models for understanding bereavement and grieving. 6. Identify the practical issues and problems that arise for individuals and families following a death or major loss in the family and the significance of social groups in bereavement. 7. Examine the variables impacting mourning (e.g. ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation) in the experience and expression of grief for the family and/or person facing death and bereavement. 8. Discuss the ways in which violence affects the experience of death or loss, and the impact of layered loss when continually exposed to loss or violence. 9. Identify post traumatic stress disorder.SW 617, Sec. 001 Winter, 2008 - 3 - 10. Discuss dominant themes of complicated mourning, including multiple losses, traumatized loss; disenfranchised Ira stigmatized loss, cultural genocide, and historical transmission of loss. 11. Discuss typical ethical concerns related to death, loss, and grief. Course Design The instructor will select required and recommended readings. Class format will include lecture, discussion, systems and case analysis, and viewing of videotapes. Written assignments will integrate theory, research, and clinical material. Current and practical applications in the social work setting will be noted when possible. Relationship of the Course to Four Curricular Themes • Multiculturalism and Diversity will be