- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Overview
- 1.1 Living with death and dying
- 1.2 Death and the meaning of life
- 1.3 Near-death experiences
- 1.3.1 Reactions to near-death experiences
- 1.3.2 Recurrent themes
- 1.3.3 Ineffability
- 1.3.4 Sense of timelessness
- 1.3.5 Sense of reality
- 1.3.6 Sense of death
- 1.3.7 Emotional feelings
- 1.3.8 Separation from the physical body
- 1.3.9 Other common features
- 1.3.10 The impact of near-death experiences
- 1.3.11 The significance of the near-death experience
- A psychological explanation for near-death experiences
- 1.4 The quality of dying
- 1.4.1 Choices in dying
- 1.4.2 Concepts of a good death
- 1.4.3 Assessing the quality of dying
- 1.4.4 Case study 1: Vic Harris – a hospital death
- 1.4.5 Case study 2: Li’s death – a residential home death
- 1.4.6 Case study 3: Andrew’s death – a hospice death
- 1.4.7 Case study 4: The death of Meg – a home death
- 1.4.8 Comment on case studies
- 1.4.9 Professional help
- 1.4.10 Unfinished business
- A good death?
- 1.4.12 Bad deaths
- 1.4.13 Defining a ‘good death’
- References
- Acknowledgements
from The Open University
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Living with death and dying
This unit will explore how knowledge and beliefs about death and encounters...
This unit will explore how knowledge and beliefs about death and encounters with death affect people’s lives. It will also examine the concept of a ‘good death’ from an individual perspective in order to enhance the quality of dying.
By the time you have completed this unit you should be able to:
- Relate beliefs about death to the meaning people attach to life;
- Reflect upon the way in which death structures life;
- Critically evaluate new encounters with death affect perspectives upon life;
- Assess the quality of dying;
- Critically examine the notion of a ‘good death’ in relation to individual experience;
- Recognise the implications of the diverse values that people hold about death and dying for improving the quality of dying.
- Duration: 4 hours
- Published on: Friday 15th June 2012
- Level: Introductory
- Posted under: Social Care
Contents
Living with death and dying
Introduction

This unit is an adapted extract from the course Death and dying (K260) [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
This unit will explore how knowledge and beliefs about death and encounters with death affect people’s lives. It will also examine the concept of a ‘good death’ from an individual perspective in order to enhance the quality of dying.
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