Caring For Dying People Of Different Faiths

The UK is no longer primarily a Christian society, but contains many people from a host of different religious backgrounds, including Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists. There are also a number of people, commonly called atheists, who have no specific religious tradition. This book is a guide to religious needs of dying people. The book considers in great detail those aspects of religious practice and ritual which may provide additional comfort, help and succour in the last moments of life. The religious beliefs and practices surrounding death for the majority of religious group in the UK are represented.

'This book is a tribute to expert nursing. It should be seen as a celebration of all that is good in nursing. It also sets out the path for nursing that is centred on relationships - the essence of person-centred nursing is based on the quality of relationships both between nurse the client and others and also between nurses their colleagues and peers. Increasingly it is a challenge for nurses to hold on to humanistic care when we practice in a world of healthcare which is performance and fiscally driven. The concept of partnership and reciprocity runs through the book like a golden thread gleaming in a rich tapestry of person-centred practice expressed via the perspectives of the contributors. Expert practitioners working with people who have dementia have led the way in the development of person centred practice.' Pauline Ford Advisor in Gerontological Nursing Royal College of Nursing 'This book is a compendium of contemporary dementia care practice. It provides knowledge that is the foundation for a clear path to successful care outcomes. It clearly leaves no room for the ignorance that produced the uncertainty and inconsistency of past practices. If dementia can be likened to a journey of highs and lows this book shows us how to eliminate the negatives and accentuate the positives.' Bob Price Director Alzheimer Education Australia

Winner of the 2012 AJN (American Journal of Nursing) Book of the Year Award in the Hospice and Palliative Care category In the 1960s, English physician and committed Christian Cicely Saunders introduced a new way of treating the terminally ill that she called "hospice care." Emphasizing a holistic and compassionate approach, her model led to the rapid growth of a worldwide hospice movement. Aspects of the early hospice model that stressed attention to the religious dimensions of death and dying, while still recognized and practiced, have developed outside the purview of academic inquiry and consideration. Meanwhile, global migration and multicultural diversification in the West have dramatically altered the profile of contemporary hospice care. In response to these developments, this volume is the first to critically explore how religious understandings of death are manifested and experienced in palliative care settings. Contributors discuss how a "good death" is conceived within the major religious traditions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Chinese religion, and Aboriginal spirituality. A variety of real-world examples are presented in case studies of a Buddhist hospice center in Thailand, Ugandan approaches to dying with HIV/AIDS, Punjabi extended-family hospice care, and pediatric palliative care. The work sheds new light on the significance of religious belief and practice at the end of life, at the many forms religious understanding can take, and at the spiritual pain that so often accompanies the physical pain of the dying person.

This practical guide summarizes the principles of working with dying patients and their families as influenced by the commoner world religions and secular philosophies. It also outlines the main legal requirements to be followed by those who care for the dying following the death of the patient. The first part of the book provides a reflective introduction to the general influences of world religions on matters to do with dying, death and grief. It considers the sometimes conflicting relationships between ethics, religion, culture and personal philosophies and how these differences impact on individual cases of dying, death and loss. The second part describes the general customs and beliefs of the major religions that are encountered in hospitals, hospices, care homes and home care settings. It also includes discussion of non-religious spirituality, humanism, agnosticism and atheism. The final part outlines key socio-legal aspects of death across the UK. Death, Religion and Law provides key knowledge, discussion and reflection for dealing with the diversity of the everyday care of dying and death in different religious, secular and cultural contexts. It is an important reference for practitioners working with dying patients, their families and the bereaved.

Death Across Cultures: Death and Dying in Non-Western Cultures, explores death practices and beliefs, before and after death, around the non-Western world. It includes chapters on countries in Africa, Asia, South America, as well as indigenous people in Australia and North America. These chapters address changes in death rituals and beliefs, medicalization and the industry of death, and the different ways cultures mediate the impacts of modernity. Comparative studies with the west and among countries are included. This book brings together global research conducted by anthropologists, social scientists and scholars who work closely with individuals from the cultures they are writing about.