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Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Annual Editions Chapters 3 and 4

1.  Before the actual stage of physiological dying, what are the three other stages, as identified in "between Diagnosis and Death"?

2.  What are the goals for the medical students in the seminar course, as outlined in "learning to Care for the Dying"?  What are the common observations made by students about their clinical mentors?  Why is there an emphasis upon developing a professional relationship in depth "without the intrusion of friendship"?  What does this latter phrase mean and why is it a goal for dealing with patients?  Why is intimacy avoided in the doctor-patient relationship?

3.  In what ways does Greyson believe people are changed after they have had a near-death experience, as suggested in "Between Life and Death"?  How would you interpret this experience?

4.  Why do nurses, according to "Societal Views," need to probe their own attitudes toward death?  Why, for example, is it important that Native Americans view the dead body as a seed?

5.  Identify the attitudinal positions and contradictions on euthanasia, as described in "Euthanasia: What is the 'Good Death'?"  What actually can be done to terminally or seriously ill patients who want to die?

6.  What is a living will?  How does it differ from a durable power of attorney?

7.  Who is Derek Humphry?  What is the contribution of his book Final Exit?

8.  What are the morally problematic implications of physician-assisted suicide, as pointed out in "Physician-Assisted Suicide: Is It Ethical?"  What were three significant reasons that Quill had to assist his patient to commit suicide?

9.  What are some of the issues, as outlined in "Death With Dignity," that disturbed the opponents of Proposition 119?  How may rational suicide be considered a noble alternative to enduring the torment of a final disease?

10.  Since when has the definition of "death" been such a debate?  What were the national commission members afraid of, as cited in "Ethicists Debate New Definition of Death," if they allowed people to be declared dead while they could still breathe?
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on American Way of Death

1. Refute or support this statement:  the United States is a death-denying society.

2. Discuss why females outlive men in the United States and most countries of the world.  In the few countries where men outlive women, what is the primary cause for this?

3. What factors have contributed to the American avoidance of death and dying?

4. How has the definition of death changed over the years?  What complications has this created for the American way of dying?

5. Compare and contrast the relative advantages and disadvantages of dying from acute and chronic diseases.  What effects do each of these causes have on the abilities of families to cope with the death of a family member?

6. Why did death "come out of the closet in the 1970s?  What events related to the "thanatology movement" helped change the American awareness of dying and death?

7. What is the "all-American way to die?"  Contrast this way of death with the way most Americans die today.

8. Contrast the causes of death in the United States today with those in 1900.  Why have the main causes of death shifted since the beginning of the 20th century?

9. Write a brief essay on putting a price on human life.  Include in your discussion why a monetary value seems of importance in today's way of life.

10. Cite examples to show how the mass media has increased its emphasis on death and dying in the United States today.
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Social Thanatology

1.  Discuss the differences between biological and symbolic death.

2.  What arguments can you offer to reject the following premise: In death, biology is primary, meaning is peripheral?

3.  How can dying, death, and bereavement be studied in a social scientific manner?
4.  What are paradigms, and what are their functions for social science research on death-related behavior?

5.  Why do sociologists need different theoretical paradigms?  Why  isn't one enough?
6.  Compare and contrast the social factist and social definitionist paradigms within the field of social thanatology.

7.  Compare and contrast the structural-functional and conflict orientations for research on death-related behavior.

8.  Compare and contrast the symbolic interactionist and exchange orientations for research on death-related behavior.

9.  Vernon states that each act of dying has three interconnected characteristics: shared, symboled, and situated.  How does this relate to his statement that more dies than a biological body?

10.  Discuss the implications of the following quote: "Even though it is but one biological body which dies, many 'role holes' or vacancies are left with the death of that one person."

11.  In making decisions about death meaning, how does the treatment of the dying patient affect that patient's understanding of death and his or her role in the dying process?

12.  What are some of the meanings of "Not Dying?"
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Developmental Perspectives

1. Discuss the various perceptions of death as one goes from birth to age ten.

2. What are some of the death themes in the Mother Goose stories cited in the text?

3. Why are euphemisms used to identify dying and death?

4. Why is knowledge "kindness" in relating to a dying child?

5. What is SIDS?  What are the patterns of SIDS deaths?  Is SIDS an old or a new phenomenon?

6. Write a brief essay explaining why adults tend to avoid talking about death with children?

7. Explain why open communication is important in relating to children about the concepts of dying and death.

8. From the discussion in the text about showing emotion at the death of a significant other, refute or support this statement:  For one to cry reveals immaturity and weakness.

9. List four (4) "do's" and four (4) "don't" regarding how one should behave around bereaved parents after the death of their child.

10. Write a brief essay about research evidence on the attitudes and behavior of siblings of dying children.

11. Why would young adults appear to reject the admonition to remember death?

12. What are some of the limitations of the developmental approach to the understanding of death conceptualizations?

13. How do you explain the popularity for adolescents of some of the movies depicting brutal death scenes?

14. What are some of the factors, other than age, which influence death conceptualizations?  Why are these factors important in understanding the ways people conceptualize death?

15. Why would education tend to reduce one's anxiety about death?

16. What are some death themes in contemporary adolescent music?  How do you explain death themes in music?

17. Why does the death taboo exist with respect to the elderly in the United States?

18. Why do high school and college-aged students have a higher level of death anxiety than junior high school students?

19. Both death education and sex education are viewed by many as problems.  Cite any current trends which may suggest that death and sex education are more in vogue in institutional settings today.

20. Evidence exits to suggest that death conceptualizations have changed within the past few decades.  Either refute or support this statement.
 
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Developmental Perspectives

1. Why would young adults appear to reject the admonition to remember death?

2. What are some of the limitations of the developmental approach to the understanding of death conceptualizations?

3. How do you explain the popularity for adolescents of some of the movies depicting brutal death scenes?

4. What are some of the factors, other than age, which influence death conceptualizations?  Why are these factors important in understanding the ways people conceptualize death?

5. Why would education tend to reduce one's anxiety about death?

6. What are some death themes in contemporary adolescent music?  How do you explain death themes in music?

7. Why does the death taboo exist with respect to the elderly in the United States?

8. Why do high school and college-aged students have a higher level of death anxiety than junior high school students?

9. Both death education and sex education are viewed by many as problems.  Cite any current trends which may suggest that death and sex education are more in vogue in institutional settings today.

10. Evidence exits to suggest that death conceptualizations have changed within the past few decades.  Either refute or support this statement.
 
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Religion and Death

 1. How does religion function to provide a restoration of the order
challenged by the event of death?

2. What is meant by death fear or death anxiety?  Why is this concept multidimensional rather than unidimensional?

3. What types of death fears are the most salient for Americans?  How might you explain why these fears are more intense than other fears?

4. What is the relationship between religious commitment and death fear?

5. Explain the following statement:

 "Religion afflicts the comforted and comforts the afflicted."

6. Why is it that with regard to death anxiety, the believer, not the belief, brings peace?

7. How can symbolic immortality and temporal interpretations of death provide a source of anxiety reduction for those who face death?

8. How can organ donations provide symbolic immortality for donors and their loved ones?

9. Do accounts of near-death experiences provide empirical evidence for afterlife beliefs?  Why or why not?

10.  What are the similarities and differences in Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist beliefs about death and funeral practices?
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Dying Process

1. Deviance may vary with time and place.  What is meant by this statement?

2. Cite four (4) criticisms of Kubler-Ross' stages of the dying process.

3. Name and briefly identify the five (5) stages of the dying process, as described by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

4. How could steps be taken to overcome the diminished social and personal power of the hospital patient?  Are such limitations on patients necessary for an orderly hospital?

5. Discuss the statement:  The terminally ill eventually come to view death as a blessing.

6. If a patient's death represents a failure to a physician, how can medical schools assist in creating an attitude of acceptance of death as the final stage of growth?

7. Name and discuss Glaser and Strauss' four awareness contexts.  Which do you think most often exists in a medical setting with dying patients?

8. Discuss death meanings as noted by time, space, norm, and role meanings.

9. What is "labeling theory"?  How does labeling theory apply to terminally-ill patients?

10. Discuss the purposes of an autopsy?  Why has there been a decline in autopsies in the United States in recent years?
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Hospice

1.  What is hospice care?  How does it differ from the treatment given by most acute care hospitals?  Identify the major functions of a hospice program.

2.  Trace the history of the hospice movement in the United States.

3.  Discuss issues related to the family as a unit of care in hospice programs.  How do hospices try to achieve quality of life for each of the "patients" they serve?  How does the interdisciplinary hospice team concept help accomplish this?

4.  What are some of the special aspects of inpatient and home care in hospice programs?  What are some of the advantages of each of these approaches?

5.  What, in your opinion, are the negative aspects of hospice care? How would you suggest they be rectified?

6.  Do you feel that bereavement care should be offered to the families of the terminally ill even after their loved one has died?  Justify your answer in terms of medical, emotional, and financial considerations.

7.  If you were terminally ill, would you consider entering a hospice? Explain your answer referring to specific reasons such as cost, family burden, and imminent death.
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Biomedical Issues

1.  Compare and contrast sanctity of life and a quality of life perspectives on euthanasia.  What are the limitations of each perspective?

2.  Distinguish between active and passive euthanasia.
How do the assumptions of "quality of life" and "sanctity of life"  relate to active and passive euthanasia?   Should our society prolong life (death) without being concerned about the quality of life experienced by the patient and the cost involved? Who should decide the meaning of quality of life?

3.  What are the respective difficulties of implementing the passive and active approaches to euthanasia for current social policy dealing with health care for the terminally ill?

4.  What are the difficulties in defining each of the following terms:

 a.  Natural Death
 b.  Quality of Life
 c.  Ordinary and Extraordinary Medical Interventions
 d.  Usual and Customary Medical Procedures
 e.  Excessive Expense and Reasonable Benefit

5.  What responsibility should a patient have in supervising his or her medical care? Can a patient ever know enough to question a professional decision? Is it practical to allow patients to assist in medical decisions?  What role could or should the patient have in his or her treatment?

6.  Has our culture unfairly required physicians to make too many life and death decisions without providing the guidelines for making these decisions? When is it inappropriate for a medical doctor to play the role of judge? Who should make these medical judgments?

7.  If you were a physician and your parent were dying from an extremely painful and incurable form of cancer and decided that life was not worth living, what role would you be willing to play in assisting him or her in self-deliverance?  Would you would be unwilling to assist your parent?  If not, what actions would you take in discouraging your parent's action?

8.  Provide arguments for and against the removal of food and water from a terminal patient in a coma.

9.  Provide arguments favoring and disagreeing with national legislation legitimizing mercy killing.

 
Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Suicide

1. Name and briefly identify Emile Durkheim's four types of suicide.

2. Contrast the dramaturgical approach to suicide with the existentialist philosophy perspective on suicide.

3. Discuss why the suicide rate tends to be high among the elderly and adolescents.

4. Discuss why the meaning of suicide continues to be problematic today.

5. Describe signs of suicide.  What steps should be taken if you observe some of these signs in a friend?

6. Rational suicide implies that one does not have to be mentally ill to take his or her life.  Recall the deaths of Julia and Cecil Saunders and defend their actions as being rational.

7. Present a brief history of attitudes toward suicide dating back to Biblical times.

8. How does alienation relate to a discussion of suicide?

9. Discuss social factors of suicide.

10. What are some colleges currently doing to help prevent campus suicides?
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Cross-Cultural Perspectives

1. A professional generally prepares the corpse for final disposition in the United States, but this is not universally true.  Discuss the importance of the family being involved in preparing the body for final disposition.

2. Cite reasons why it is important to learn about bereavement patterns in other cultures.

3. How does a concept of soul relate to death?

4. Describe mourning rituals commonly found in the United States.

5. Discuss the why of crying over a death, as presented by anthropologist Radcliffe-Brown.

6. What are some of the functions of burial rites?

7. Discuss the different ways in which societies dispose of a body after death.

8. A sexual double standard tends to exist in burial practices in countries around the world.  Cite examples of this situation both for the United States and in other countries.

9. Discuss the Hopi Indians' view of death.

10. The Abkhasians on the coast of the Black Sea live long lives.  Write a brief essay to discuss why they seem to live so long.
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Historical Perspectives

1.  Describe and discuss the Puritan view of death. Describe the procedures and atmosphere surrounding the typical Puritan funeral.

2.  How did the Enlightenment affect the Reformed Tradition of funerals and view of death?

3.  Discuss its influences of the following on the "Dying of Death": Romanticism and Sentimentalism, scientific naturalism, and liberal theology.

4.  What are the influences of the following occupations upon the "Dying of Death": life insurance agents, cemetery superintendents, and funeral directors.

5.  Describe and explain the reforms that have taken place over the years in the construction and maintenance of the cemetery.

6.  What effect has the dropping of the atom bomb had on American death conceptions?

7.  Describe the changes that have taken place with regard to the role of the family in funeralization.
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Funerals

1.  Describe how the funeralization process can assist in coping with grief and facilitate the bereavement process.

2.  Distinguish between grief, bereavement, and funeralization.

3.  Describe and compare each of the following processes: burial, cremation, and entombment.

4.  Based on Irion's concept of psychological needs of the bereaved, explain how funeralization can be related to the meeting of each of these needs.

5.  Discuss the factors affecting post-death costs and the expenses related to funerals and final disposition.

6.  Discuss the psychological, sociological, and theological-philosophical aspects of the funeralization process.  How do each of these aspects facilitate the resolution of grief?
7.  What would you include in your own obituary if you were to write it?

8.  What would be your choice of final disposition of your body? Why would you choose this method,  and what effects might this choice have upon your survivors (if any)?

9.  What is the difference between preneed, prefunding, and prearranging funerals?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of preneed funeral arrangements?
 

Sociology 248 -- Sociology of Dying, Death, and Bereavement
Dr. Leming, Professor
Fall 1998

 Discussion Questions on Bereavement

1.  How can one avoid "deviant" or "abnormal" behavior regarding the bereavement role?  What are some functions of defining bereavement roles as "deviant" or "abnormal?"

2.  What is the relationship between time and the feelings of grief experienced within the bereavement process?
 
3. Discuss how the seven stages of grieving over one's death can also be applied to losses through divorce, moving form one place to another, or the amputation of a limb (arm or leg).

4. Describe the four necessary tasks of mourning.  What are some of the practical steps one can take in accomplishing each of these tasks?

5. What does Parkes mean by the statement: "The funeral often precedes the 'peak of the pangs'?"   How can one assist friends in bereavement?

6.  What are the special problems encountered in the death of a child and in a perinatal death?

7.  Explain how suggestions related to medical procedures involved in perinatal deaths might better help parents cope with the death of their child.

8.  What are some of the signs of aberrant bereavement?  What could you do to assist people experiencing abnormal grief symptoms?

9.  In what ways are deaths of pets and deaths of significant others similar with regard to the bereavement process?  What are some of special problems related to the death of a pet?

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