Living with Dying

Joan Berzoff is professor and codirector of the doctoral program at Smith College School for Social Work and director of the End of Life Certificate Program at Smith. She is the coauthor of Inside Out and Outside In: Psychodynamic Clinical Theory and Practice in Contemporary Multicultural Contexts and Disassociative Identity Orders: The Controversy in Diagnosis and Treatment. She is the recent recipient of the Social Work Leadership Development Award from the Project on Death in America. Phyllis R. Silverman, Ph.D., is scholar-in-residence at the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center and professor emerita at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She is recognized internationally for her research with the widowed and grieving children. Her writing includes Widower: When Men Are Left Alone, Continuing Bonds: A New Understanding of Grief, Never Too Young to Know: Death in Children's Lives, and a new edition of Widow-to-Widow.

• Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgments Foreword, by Thomas R. Egnew Introduction Part I Narratives in End-of-Life Care 1. Fragments of Love: Explorations in the Ethnography of Suffering and Professional Caregiving, by David Browning 2. The Symptom Is Stillness: Living with and Dying from ALS, by Ellen Pulleyblank Coffey 3. The Loss of a Child to Cancer: From Case to Caseworker, by Roberta Hoffman 4. September 11: Reflections on Living with Dying in Disaster Relief, by es Gallo-Silver and Penny Damaskos Part II Theoretical Aspects of Death and Dying Introduction: Theory 5. What Is a Respectful Death? by Stu Farber, Thomas Egnew, and Annalu Farber 6. Dying and Bereavement in Historical Perspective, by Phyllis R. Silverman 7. The History of Social Work in Hospice, by Mary Raymer and Dona Reese 8. The Interdisciplinary Team: An Oxymoron? by Inge B. Corless and Patrice K. Nicholas 9. Ethical issues in End-of-Life Care: Social Work and Facilitation and Proactive Intervention, by Patricia O'Donnell 10. Spirituality and End-of-Life Care Practice for Social Workers, by Carolyn Jacobs 11. Gender and Death: Parallel and Intersecting Pathways, by Illene C. Noppe 12. Bereavement: A Time of Transition and Changing Relationships, by Phyllis R. Silverman 13. Psychodynamic Theories in Grief and Bereavement, by Joan Berzoff Part III Clinical Practice Issues in End-of-Life Care Introduction: Clinical Practice 14. The Trajectory of Illness, by Allen Levine and Wendy Karger 15. Clinical Social Work Practice at the End of Life, by Felice Zilberfein and Elizabeth Hurwitz 16. The End of Life at the Beginning of Life: Working with Dying Children and Their Families, by Nancy Cincotta 17. Working with Dying and Bereaved Older People, by Sue Thompson and Neil Thompson 18. Assessing Mental Health Risk in End-of-Life Care, by Katherine Walsh-Burke 19. Pain and Symptom Management: An Essential Role for Social Work, by Terry Altilio

Berzoff's and Silverman's text is a compendium of educational material uniquely edited to facilitate social workers' understanding of how to think about, talk with and practice caring for people with life-limiting illness, their caregivers and themselves. It should be required reading for all healthcare professionals who provide end-of-life care. From its use of personal narratives to its emphasis on the theoretical underpinnings of social work practice and research, this resource models excellence in teaching. It is authoritative, comprehensive, practical and readable. Although each of the chapters could stand alone, together they carefully weave the complex elements of what healthcare professionals need to know to be both competent and compassionate in providing end-of-life care. This resource thoroughly addresses the educational challenges set forth in the three Institute of Medicine reports calling for the education of healthcare professionals to facilitate improved care to people with life-limiting illness.Kathleen M. Foley, MDProfessor of Neurology, Neuroscience & Clinical PharmacologyWeill Medical School of Cornell University Attending NeurologistMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer CenterPalliative Care Initiative Network PublicHealth ProgramOpen Society Institute -- Kathleen M. Foley, MD I would highly recommend Living with Dying. -- Reverend Francis C. Zanger American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care This text offers a successful interdisciplinary approach to understanding suffering, the vital relationship of self to others (and the importance of self-care), and the competencies needed to promote compassionate, professional palliative care...Recommended. Choice This text is an excellent resource. -- Katherine Miller Palliative Medicine It beautifully encapsulates the profession of social work and the care that social workers provide for the dying and bereaved. -- Cheryl-Anne Cait Smith College Studies in Social Work Living with Dying is the first comprehensive resource on end-of-life care... Social workers will find this text indispensable. -- Carole A. Winston Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care