Rarely heard about in our society are caregivers’ thoughts and feelings about life, death, and dying and how they act on those feelings. For the Living: Coping, Caring and Communicating with the Terminally Ill provides an in-depth, qualitative look at the experiences of oncology healthcare professionals as they work with terminally ill patients. Through a series of recorded and edited interviews, the author explores the social and cultural dynamics that affect physicians, nurses, and social workers routinely encountering mortality and loss. What death and the prospect of dying mean to these individuals should not be taken lightly.
Reading about what they do, say, think, and feel provides a starting point for others to reflect on their own death-related experiences and may lead to new perceptions about death and ways of handling it in daily interactions. The thoughts and feelings of the doctors, nurses, and social workers described in these pages can help professional and lay caregivers better understand their own experiences with death and its role in life as they assist people with terminal illness.
