Sociology of Death and Dying

Combined Bachelors/Masters Degree Program in Pastoral Thanatology

PTH 490

Breyer State University

Instructor:

Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D, DCH, RN, CS, CH-C
Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner
Certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse
Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
Certified Grief Counselor

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to the combined Bachelors/Masters degree program in Pastoral Thanatology, offered by Breyer State University. You have made a wise decision to pursue study and acquire the knowledge and skills needed to practice in this growing pastoral and behavioral health specialty. This area of specialty practice is growing all the time and many well trained professionals and pastoral ministers are needed throughout the world to provide support, care and ministry to the dying. Obtaining the credential from a quality program is essential to capitalize on this career and ministry opportunity. You have made an excellent choice for your continuing education and skill attainment. I am sure you will be pleased with our degree program's course of study.

This comprehensive college-based course is developed to provide learners with an understanding of anticipatory mourning, what it is, how to deal most effectively with it and other related issues, including research outcomes. It is a comprehensive course and requires significant learning. It is foundational to the degree program and prepares students to work therapeutically and most effectively with all dimensions and presentations of anticipatory mourning.

TIME FRAME: This is a eight-semester hour course. This course is allotted ten weeks of time. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the ten-week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your textbook has arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless you have good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded eight-semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOKS: There is one (1) required textbook for this course.

Book 1: Death, Society, and Human Experience. Robert J. Kastenbaum, 8th edition. Boston;Allyn and Bacon Publishers: 2001. ISBN # 205482627.

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EXAMINATIONS: Examinations are taken online via the Breyer State University web site. Once you have registered for this program, you will receive instructions on accessing and taking the examinations. There is one examination for this course, a final exam.

GRADING: Examination is essay-type for this course. The grading scale is:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: You are encouraged to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily, communication is through email. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D., MBA, RN,CS, CNAA, FACHE, is President of Dominick L. Flarey and Associates, a health care consulting and education firm, located in northeast Ohio. He has held positions as a certified nurse practitioner, associate administrator of patient care, chief operating office and administrator in acute care hospitals. He is Dean of Nursing and Alternative Health Care Programs at Canyon College, and lectures for Cross Country Seminars national seminar company based in Nashville. He was an executive consultant to a national "big 6" accounting firm's health care practice and was a service line administrator and consultant for case management for another national consulting firm. He holds a BSN, an MBA, and Doctorates in nursing administration and management. He is a certified adult nurse practitioner and certified clinical hypnotherapist.

He is also certified as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse by the American Nurses Credentialing Center in Washington, DC. He lectures extensively across the country on Management, including models, systems, outcomes and legal/ethical issues. He also lectures nationally on the topic of Biopsychiatry. His clinical practice includes hypnotherapies for Grief and Bereavement, care of adults with depression, anxiety disorders and panic disorder. He uses hypnotherapies, guided meditation and visualization in his work with those grieving. He is the President of Breyer State University.
He is co-author/editor of two textbooks on Case Management (see below) and is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal, "Nursing Case Management: Managing the Process of Patient Care."
Dr. Flarey is also certified in nursing administration advanced. He is a board certified health care executive by the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is a Fellow in the college. He also holds national certification in managed care from the Professional Education Institute. He is a Certified Medical-Legal Consultant.

He is editor-in-chief of JONA's (Journal of Nursing Administration) Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Nursing Administration, Seminars for Nurse Managers, Case Management: Managing the Process of Patient Care, and Nursing Outcomes. He has authored over 50 published articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Flarey is editor/author of the book, "Redesigning Nursing Care Delivery: Transforming Our Future," published by Lippincott/Raven publishers. He is also co-editor/author of the following books by Aspen Publishers: "Reengineering Nursing and Health Care: The Handbook for Organizational Transformation," winner of a 1995 AJN book of the year award, "The Handbook of Nursing Case Management: Health Care Delivery in a World of Managed Care," "Case Studies in Case Management," "Health Care Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Cardiovascular Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Process-Centered Healthcare Organizations."

INSTRUCTOR AVAILABILITY: Upon registration, you will be given my e-mail address. I am available periodically through e-mail, so please e-mail me any questions that may occur. That is why I am here. I will do everything to help you as much as possible. Please do not wait until the end of the class to try to get help. It will be too late. Anytime your grade falls below C, I will try to contact you about it. If I do not, please do not hesitate to contact me through e-mail.

GETTING STARTED: As soon as you receive your textbook for the course, you may begin your course of study. Once you have registered for the course, I will send to you a letter of introduction with more explanations and the course assignments.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Discuss your own beliefs and attitudes about death and dying.
2). Understand and discuss “death anxiety.”
3). Identify competing ideas about death and dying.
4). Discuss biomedical approaches to the definition of death.
5). Identify gender differences related to death anxiety.
6). Identify age differences related to death anxiety.
7). Discuss issues of religious beliefs related to death anxiety.
8). Discuss death as an agent of personal and social change.
9). Identify and understand components and functions of the death system.
10). Identify and discuss the history of death education and counseling.
11). Identify major causes of death past, present and future.
12). Identify and discuss the trajectories of dying from beginning to end.
13). Discuss issues of feelings and counseling related to death and dying.
14). Discuss major issues of communications with dying patients.
15). Identify factors that influence the death experience.
16). Discuss theoretical models of the dying process.
17). Discuss a developmental coping model of the dying process.
18). Discuss the hospice approach to care of the dying.
19). Identify and discuss major “end of life” issues and decision making.
20). Understand how people recover from grief.
21). Discuss issues of bereavement in later life.
22). Identify support systems for the bereaved.
23). Identify and discuss the funeral process and what it means.
24). Identify and discuss ways to improve the funeral process.
25). Discuss the issues and experiences of people related to near death experiences.
26). Define and discuss the roles of death educators/bereavement counselors.
27). Discuss the need for death counselors to be counseled.
28). Understand sociological and individual perspectives of the death experience.
29). Discuss issues related to death by suicide.
30). Define and discuss issues related to beliefs in life after death.
31). Identify issues related to children dying.

COURSE CONTENT:

1). Self-inventory assessment of beliefs and attitudes toward dying.
2). Coping mechanisms used by the dying.
3). Death anxiety.
4). Accepting and denying death.
5). Religious beliefs regarding death and dying.
6). Biomedical approaches to death and dying.
7). Conditions that resemble death.
8). Characteristics of the death system.
9). Changing ways of death.
10). Death education.
11). Death statistics.
12). Transition from life.
13). When death begins.
14). Trajectories of dying.
15). Individuality and universality of death and dying.
16). Theoretical models of the dying process.
17). The hospice approach to care of the dying.
18). Research related to hospice care outcomes.
19). End-of-life issues and decision making issues.
20). Suicide.
21). Violent death.
22). Euthanasia and the right to die.
23). Adult assumptions about children and death
24). How children cope with bereavement.
25). The dying child.
26). Bereavement, grief and mourning.
27). Recovery from grief.
28). The funeral process.
29). Questions of life after death.
30). Death education and counseling.
31). Personal perspectives on death and dying.

PREREQUISITE: GRF 150, GRF 200, PTH 250 and PTH 380 are pre-requisites for this course.

INFORMATION: If you have any questions regarding this program, you may address them to adm@breyerstate.com. An administrative faculty member will respond to all questions.

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