Awareness of dying

Key text (CCPC)

Introduction ; The problem of awareness of dying ; Expectations of death : a problem in social definition ; Types of awareness contexts ; Closed awareness ; Suspicion awareness : the contest for control ; The ritual drama of mutual pretense ; The ambiguities of open awareness ; Discounting awareness ; Problems of awareness ; Direct disclosure of terminality ; The unaware family ; The aware family ; Nothing more to do : the problem of no recovery ; Nothing more to do : the problem of comfort ; Awareness and the nurse's composure ; Conclusions ; The practical use of awareness theory ; Awareness and the study of social interaction ; Methods of collection and analysis of data ; Index

This book is the result of fieldwork conducted at six hospitals in San Fransisco and examines the interaction between patients dying in hospital and hospital staff.