TRANSITIONS IN DYING AND BEREAVEMENT
A Psychosocial Guide for Hospice and Palliative Care
Moira Cairns, Mahoney Thompson, Wendy Wainwright (Eds)
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Health Professions Press 2003
394pp
ISBN 1-878812-92-0
RRP $US44, £24.50
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This book is about counseling in palliative and bereavement care. It is structured to mirror the steps or transitions that occur as patients and families follow the journey from diagnosis to
death and through bereavement. Each transition or phase is discussed in a separate chapter. Each includes a pertinent case study, identification of the significant psychosocial issues associated
with the transition, followed by a list of questions that could be used for assessment and a description of possible interventions. Between each of the main ten chapters are shorter chapters
called “Perspective”, which describe topics that have broad application across all or most of the transitions. These include psychosocial assessment, support for the team, alternative therapies,
working with emotions and cultural competency. (For a full list, see the Table of Contents in the review in the Bookshop at www.hospicecare.com.)
I think this is an excellent book. It is clinically very practical and the considerable experience of the contributors shines through. It is well setout and organized. It is clearly written,
with a minimum of psychosocial “mumbo-jumbo”. I thought there might have been more emphasis on giving more psychosocial care before death as a means of reducing problems in bereavement, and the
use of formal Advance Care Planning as a means of achieving this. But as it stands, the book will be a valuable resource for all who work in hospice and palliative care, enabling and empowering
them to further explore the psychosocial dimensions of the care we provide.
The book is further enhanced by twenty one-page insights written by people who work at the Victoria Hospice, and by numerous quotations, one of which I lifted to share with you
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without words
And never stops – at all.
(Emily Dickenson)
Roger Woodruff,
Director of Palliative Care, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia
August 2004
Author Information
Moira Cairns is Bereavement Co-Ordinator for the Victoria Hospice Society
Mahoney Thompson is a Counselor at Victoria Hospice Society
Wendy Wainwright is the Manager of Counseling Services at Victoria Hospice Society
Table of Contents
Introduction: Signposts: Principles, values and assumptions
Perspective: Support for the Hospice Palliative Care Team
1. Establishing the Framework: Integration of Psychosocial and Palliative Care
Perspective: The role of counseling in hospice and palliative care
2. Beginning the Journey: Early diagnosis and treatment
Perspective: Psychosocial assessment
3. The path not chosen: Recurrence and chronic illness
Perspective: Family types and stages
4. Entering the unknown: The shift towards hospice and palliative care
Perspective: Dying children and adolescents
5. The long and winding road: Illness predominates
Perspective: Alternative therapies
6. Watching and waiting: As death approaches
Perspective: Body Image, sex and intimacy
7. The parting of the ways: Time of death
Perspective: Working with emotions
8. Walking the Edges: When a death occurs
Perspective: Cultural competency
9. Entering the depths: Adjusting to loss
Perspective: Difficult grief and multiple losses
10. Reconnecting with the World: Mending the heart
The last word.
Index.
