Death Awareness Model: A Case Study

Once the siblings were interviewed, I moved onto one of their aunts Kathy Snider. Kathy is a retired, sixty-one year old woman who lives at home with her husband, Larry, their two dogs, Patch and Tiki, and her mother-in-law, Rita. I fist asked Kathy her views on the dying process and she responded with while it is a very sad experience she is hopeful for a “peaceful and good death.” I asked Kathy when she first learned about death and she assumes that it was through church for she too is Catholic. Then I inquired about what her religion states about the dying process and she said that she followed traditional Catholicism and believed in everything that her religion taught. Next I asked her what she believes happened once one died and she said …show more content…
After talking with Kathy she thought the idea of knowing when she would die would be relieving so she could get her affairs in order. This reminded me of how an open awareness model would be ideal for Kathy. For open awareness, “staff and patients acknowledge that the patient’s condition is terminal” (Andrews & Nathaniel, 2015). This would allow Kathy to feel as if she did all she could to provide Larry with what he needed to survive without her. Kathy’s unique needs center around what she leaves behind. Kathy was very concerned abut how her husband would do and even mentioned to me that he really struggled when their first dog died and she wasn’t sure how he would cope losing her. Kathy does have a number of strengths though such as her logical outlook at determination to plan ahead to make the transition for her family as effortless as possible. Kathy knew that the only way she would achieve her goal of having a “good death” would be if she could die knowing she did all she could to leave her family well off without her. The potential problems centered on Kathy’s thoughts about death would be the anxiety she already faces for leaving her husband behind and how everyone will manage without her. This could become an issue if Kathy struggles to “let go” and continues to prolong her own death so that Larry would not be …show more content…
Wong. The theory suggests “how we manage the meaning of death and life in such a way that our meaning systems not only protect us against the terror of death but also propels us towards the path of accepting the reality of death and living a vital and productive life” (Wong, 2017). Rita was very comfortable talking about her own death and it was obvious that this was something that she has thought about and knew was inevitable, and she was okay with that. This confidence may come from Rita’s grounded faith for Dr. Wong’s research has shown that “scales that measure belief in God’s existence and belief in the afterlife were both negatively correlated with death anxiety but positively correlated with death acceptance” (Wong, 2017). The way that Rita answered her questions showed that she had found what was important in life and was at peace with how she was living. It has been found that “if we have lived a meaningful life and have achieved ego-integrity, we are able to face death without fear” (Wong, 2017). Rita wanted to make sure that I knew that death is not the end, but merely the end of this world and if you left it better than you started, you had done your part. Being eighty years old and at peace gives the realization that “by accepting our mortality, we declare our intention to invest our energy and time in living the good life rather than defending ourselves against