Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Nicole Taylor

Second Advisor

Kimberly Gorgens

Third Advisor

Christine DeVore

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Keywords

Training, Death anxiety, End of life care

Abstract

Inward reflection and knowing the self are an essential element to becoming a psychologist and is crucial when encountering themes of death and dying in psychotherapy. There are significant gaps in curriculum and training regarding death anxiety and end-of-life care for psychology trainees and psychologists despite psychologists’ growing presence in this type of work. The following paper will explore historical and current day theories of death anxiety and death education. It will also demonstrate the gaps in training for psychologists in the areas of death anxiety and end-of-life care and describe the need for this type of training to be central to graduate and post-graduate studies. Based upon the relevant literature, this paper will propose a training outline focused on facilitating a reflective process for psychologists to understand their own anxieties around death and dying in order to be better equipped to be with clients as they examine their own fears, biases, and anxieties.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Extent

65 pgs



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