RESUMO
The authors argued that death competence, defined as specialized skill in tolerating and managing clients' problems related to dying, death, and bereavement, is a necessary prerequisite for ethical practice in grief counseling. A selected review of the literature tracing the underpinnings of this concept reveals how a robust construct of death competence evolved. Using the vehicle of a case study, the authors analyzed an example of empathic failure resulting from an apparent lack of death competence on the part of a mental health provider to illustrate the importance of this characteristic in delivering clinically effective and ethically sensitive grief counseling.
Assuntos
Atitude Frente a Morte , Luto , Competência Clínica , Aconselhamento/ética , Ética Médica , Pesar , Psicoterapia/ética , Adaptação Psicológica/ética , Adulto , Códigos de Ética , Contratransferência , Feminino , Humanos , Associações de Ajuda a Doentes Mentais , Relações Médico-Paciente/ética , Estados Unidos , Viuvez/psicologiaRESUMO
In doing a curriculum evaluation for Behavioral Science training of Family Medicine Residents, it was determined that the knowledge of the work of the chaplains in inpatient care was somewhat limited. The Behavioral Science Educator initiated a collaborative project with the Department of Pastoral Care in order to facilitate an increased awareness of the chaplains' services, since the chaplains are part of the patient treatment team. This article is a description and evaluation of that project.
