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Living with death and dying

This free course, Living with death and dying, explores how knowledge of 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.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
After completing this course, you should be able to:
- relate beliefs about death to the meaning people attach to life
- reflect on the way in which death structures life
- critically evaluate now 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.
First Published: 10/08/2012
Updated: 17/08/2018
You can start this course right now without signing-up. Click on any of the course content sections below to start at any point in this course.
If you want to be able to track your progress, earn a free Statement of Participation, and access all course quizzes and activities, sign-up.
Course content
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Overview
- 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’
- Conclusion
- References
- Acknowledgements
- This site has Copy Reuse Tracking enabled - see our FAQs for more information.
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4 hours study
Level 1: Introductory
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