Arndt, Jamie/ Cook, Alison/ Goldenberg, Jamie L./ Cox, Cathy R. Cancer and the Threat of Death: The Cognitive Dynamics of Death-Thought Suppression and Its Impact on Behavioral Health Intentions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2007, 92(1), 12–29.
Five studies examined the cognitive association between thoughts of cancer and thoughts of death and their implication for screening intentions. Study 1 found that explicit contemplation of cancer did not increase death-thought accessibility. In support of the hypothesis that this reflects suppression of death-related thoughts, Study 2 found that individuals who thought about cancer exhibited elevated death-thought accessibility under high cognitive load, and Study 3 demonstrated that subliminal primes of the word cancer led to increased death-thought accessibility. Study 4 revealed lower levels of death-thought accessibility when perceived vulnerability to cancer was high, once again suggesting
suppression of death-related thoughts in response to conscious threats associated with cancer. Study 5 extended the analysis by finding that after cancer salience, high cognitive load, which presumably disrupts suppression of the association between cancer and death, decreased cancer-related self-exam intentions. Theoretical and practical implications for understanding terror management, priming and suppression, and responses to cancer are discussed.

Brown, Victoria M. Commentary on “Being in Tune With Life: Complementary Therapy Use and Well-Being in Residential Hospice Residents”. Journal of Holistic Nursing Sep 2006, 34(3), 162-163.

Byock, Ira R. To Life! Reflections on Spirituality, Palliative Practice, and Politics. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine 2007, 23, 436-438.

Coyle, Nessa. The Hard Work of Living in the Face of Death. J Pain Symptom Manage 2006, 32, 266-274.
Abstract
This study examines, from the patient’s perspective, the work of trying to live with advanced cancer at the same time as facing the immediacy of death. The findings are part of an exploratory qualitative study that examined the first-hand accounts of seven patients being cared for at an urban cancer research center who were living with advanced disease. Using interpretive phenomenology, a series of in-depth, semistructured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, coded, and organized into themes. Three subthemes emerged from the data that reflected the hard work that these individuals undertook. These were orientating themselves to the disease and maintaining control, searching for and creating a system of support and safety, and struggling to find meaning and create a legacy. The findings confirm that living with advanced cancer in the face of death involves hard work on the part of the patient.

Galle, John A. The First Patient who Broke My Heart, American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine 2007, 23, 498-499.

Gudmundsdottir, Maria/ Chesla, Catherine A. Building a New World Habits and Practices of Healing Following the Death of a Child. Journal of Family Nursing May 2006, 12(2), 143-164.
The goal of this interpretive phenomenological study is to describe and understand significant habits and practices developed by families bereaved from the sudden and unexpected loss of their children. Data were primarily collected through the interviewing of 15 family members in seven families. At least four interviews were conducted with each family. Family members were interviewed both together and separately. The analysis of the data illuminated the development of significant and meaningful family practices. These practices acknowledged the death of the children, integrated their loss into the everyday lives of these families, allowed for continuing connection, and were of utter importance as they contributed to family healing.

Hermann, Carla P. The Degree to Which Spiritual Needs of Patients Near the End of Life Are Met. Oncology Nursing Forum 2007,34(1), 70-78.
Purpose/Objectives: To determine to what degree the spiritual needs of patients near the end of life are met.
Design: Descriptive.
Setting: One inpatient and . ve outpatient hospices.
Sample: 62 female and 38 male hospice patients with a mean age of 67 years; 74% were dying from cancer.
Methods: Each subject completed the Spiritual Needs Inventory and rated life satisfaction via the Cantril ladder.
Main Research Variables: Spiritual needs and life satisfaction.
Findings: Women, patients residing in a nursing home or an inpatient hospice unit, and patients with lower levels of education reported a higher number of unmet spiritual needs. Needs that could be met independently by patients and were not related to functional status were met at a higher rate than those that were dependent on others and on functional status.
Conclusions: Spiritual activities are important to patients who are near the end of life, but these patients may have a variety of unmet spiritual needs that depend on many factors, including the care setting.
Implications for Nursing: Nurses must recognize the importance of spirituality to patients near the end of life. Assessment for specific spiritual needs can lead to the development of interventions to meet those needs. Meeting patients’ spiritual needs can enhance their quality of life.

Jacelon, Cynthia S. Directive and Supportive Behaviors Used by Families of Hospitalized Older Adults to Affect the Process of Hospitalization. Journal of Family Nursing Aug 2006, 12(3), 234-250.
As part of a grounded-theory study exploring the social processes of hospitalized older adults, family members were asked about their roles in relation to their hospitalized relative. Participants included five hospitalized older adults (aged = 75 years), a family member, and a nurse for each older adult. Data saturation determined the number of participants. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method to develop the substantive theory of managing personal integrity during hospitalization. Personal integrity is a concept encompassing the properties of health, dignity, and autonomy. Siblings, spouses, children, and grandchildren used a combination of supportive and directive behaviors to affect personal integrity and the hospitalization for their older relatives. In prior research, the entire family was viewed as the patient. This research is unique in that the family is viewed as a modifier of hospitalization affecting the older adult’s hospital experience and not as the focus of care.

Jenko, Mimi/ Gonzalez, Leah/ Seymour, Mary Jane. Life Review With the Terminally Ill. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing May/June 2007, 9(3), 159-167.
Life review is the systematic and structured process of recalling past events and memories in an effort to find meaning in and achieve resolution of one’s life. Although traditionally used in gerontology, life review is applicable with any person facing the end of life. The hospice nurse, as a provider of end-of-life care, is well positioned to holistically assist the unit of care. This article chronicles the origins, theory, and varied applications of life review. Specific clinical examples and techniques are included to assist the nurse in initiating the life review process for one’s patients and becoming an effective therapeutic listener. As life review becomes an integral part of core clinical practice, it may be used to provide emotional and spiritual support for all recipients of hospice care.

Marsden Gillis, Christina.  “Seeing the Difference”: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Death, Dying, Humanities, and Medicine. J Med Humanit 2006, 27, 105–115.
Abstract This essay explores how strategies integral to inquiry in the humanities provide insights into developing an interdisciplinary approach to studies of death and dying that will be relevant to medical practice as well as to humanistic study. The author asks how we can produce new modes of knowledge in an area where “knowing” is highly problematized and argues that while a putative field of death and dying studies must include a range of disciplinary approaches it must also account for lived, subjective experience and the ways that we, as individuals and as a culture, create meaning.

McGrath, Catherine/ Montgomery, Kathleen/ White, Karolyn/ Kerridge, Ian H. A narrative account of the impact of positive thinking on discussions about death and dying. Support Care Cancer 2006, 14, 1246–1251.
Abstract Goals of work: The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of autologous stem cell transplant recipients (ASCT) and those who care for them.
Materials and methods: This was a qualitative prospective, longitudinal study. Ten patients who were about to have ASCT and nine carers were recruited to the study. Interviews were to be conducted at regular intervals six times over 2 years. The narratives of two widowed carers were analysed using Grounded Theory and read for themes on positive thinking and death.
Main results: Positive thinking has a range of meanings, and its use can have a range of consequences. It can either be a useful coping strategy or can interfere with important conversations and planning about the end of life, and  subsequently add to the distress of a grieving partner.
Conclusions: It is important for patients, their partners and their health professionals to be able to discuss potential adverse consequences of illness, including death, without being hindered by the obligation to be positive or optimistic.

McNeely Pass, Olivia. Toni Morrison’s Beloved: A Journey through the Pain of Grief. J Med Humanit 2006, 27, 117–124.
Abstract This paper elucidates the structure of Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, using the framework of human emotions in response to grieving and death as developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Through her studies of terminally ill patients, Kubler-Ross identified five stages when approaching death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. These stages accurately fill the process that the character Sethe experiences in the novel as she learns to accept her daughter’s death.

Meador, Keith G. Spirituality and Care at the End of Life. Southern Medical Journal Oct 2006, 99(10), 1184-1185.

Moules, Nancy J./ Simonson, Kari/ Fleiszer, Andrea R./ Prins, Mark/ Glasgow, Bob. The Soul of Sorrow Work: Grief and Therapeutic Interventions With Families. Journal of Family Nursing 2007, 13, 117-141.
The courage and willingness to walk alongside families in grief calls forth particular beliefs and practices in nurses and other health care professionals. In this second phase of a study on grief and grief interventions, the researchers examine experiences of bereaved family members who received care in a grief support program and explore program clinicians’ explanations of the work that they do with the bereaved. Findings of this interpretive study suggest that it is not so much models of grief intervention but maps that most guide the clinicians—maps that are drawn out of experience and with awareness of their limitations.
The family members and the clinicians bring us to an understanding that, often, it is the willingness to step off of the map that makes for the best traveling companion in the spiritual walk of grief.

Nelson, Jenenne P. Being in Tune With Life Complementary Therapy Use and Well-Being in Residential Hospice Residents. Journal of Holistic Nursing Sep 2006, 24(3), 152-161.
Complementary therapies are commonly used by the public. Increasingly, complementary therapies are being used in hospices for symptom management; however, little research is available on their effect on patient well-being.
Purpose: This study explores experiences of 15 hospice residents who received complementary therapies and describes the hospice cultural patterns where complementary therapies were delivered.
Method: Ethnography was used to guide data collection. Data were collected by participant observations, formal and informal interviews, and complementary therapy charts in a residential hospice during 9 months.
Findings: Three themes of experiencing complementary therapies, reconnecting to life through caring, and presence in relationship were uncovered during data analysis.
Implications: Study results suggest that presence may be more important to the patient’s well-being than the physical responses of complementary therapies. Also, a caring culture may influence staff job satisfaction and retention.

Schmidt Bunkers, Sandra. The Experience of Feeling Unsure for Women at End-Of-Life. Nursing Science Quarterly 2007, 20, 56-63.
The purpose of this study was to answer the research question, What is the structure of the lived experience of feeling unsure? The participants were 9 women at end-of-life. The Parse research method, a phenomenologicalhermeneutic method, was used to discover the structure of feeling unsure. Through the process of extractionsynthesis three core concepts were identified: disquieting apprehensiveness, pressing on, and intimate sorrows.
Thus, the lived experience of feeling unsure for these 9 women is disquieting apprehensiveness arising while pressing on with intimate sorrows. The structure provides knowledge about feeling unsure and its connection to health and quality of life. Feeling unsure will be discussed in relation to the principles and concepts of human becoming and in relation to how it can inform nursing practice and future research.

Smith-Stoner, Marilyn. Phowa-End-of-Life Ritual Prayers for Tibetan Buddhists. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing Nov/Dec 2006, 8(6), 357-363.
Hospice and palliative care standards guide nurses to develop individualized plans of care for every patient and family. A religious assessment and integration of rituals and activities related to death preparation are important parts of the hospice plan of care. This article describes a specific death preparation ritual, phowa, practiced by Vajrayana Buddhists. Knowledge of specific death preparation prayers and rituals provides the hospice clinical staff with additional insight to help Buddhists transcend the death experience and realize the ultimate goal of being reborn in a Pure Land, free from the cycle of death and rebirth. Professional standards and guidelines for spiritual and religious assessment requirements are presented.

Wiegand, Debra Lynn-McHale. Families and Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapy State of the Science. Journal of Family Nursing May 2006, 12(2), 165-184.
As the science progresses related to families participating in the process of withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (LST), it is important to assess research accomplishments, identify gaps in the knowledge and ways to build on the science, and suggest new directions for future research. Research-based articles related to families participating in the process of withdrawal of LST were obtained by conducting computer-assisted searches and analyzing references lists. A grid was developed that included key variables from each of the studies. A second grid was developed and included the subthemes that evolved from the analysis. Eleven studies were reviewed and analyzed. Themes that evolved include illness context, family context, and family and health care provider interactions. Important information has been discovered about the family decision-making process and helpful health care provider interactions. Additional research focused on withdrawal of LST is needed to understand important concepts, develop instruments, and test interventions.

Zust, Barbara L. Death as a Transformation of Wholeness: An “Aha” Experience of Health as Expanding Consciousness. Nursing Science Quarterly Jan 2006, 19(1), 57-60.
A nurse-patient clinical experience is presented from a unitary transformative perspective. The experience is interpreted through Newman’s theory of health as expanding consciousness. A brief description of Newman’s theory is given in order to provide the reader with Newman’s key terms and fundamental philosophical principles. The nursepatient healing partnership is explained using Newman’s terminology and theory of health as expanding consciousness.
The purpose of this article is to advance the critical importance of  uncompromised and nonfragmented nursing care in partnership with the irreducible whole person. 

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