A study of the process of dying in American hospitals focuses upon discernible recurrent
patterns of interaction between staff members, terminally ill patients, and their
families. Strauss and Glaser suppose that the expectation of death by both the
dying and the relatives are a key to understanding the interactions between
those people. Their choice of hospitals and stations allowed them to compare various
kinds of expectations. On a premature infant station, mortality was high but the
patients were not aware of their impeding deaths, while on an oncology station, dying
was slow and differences in the awareness of dying were very pronounced. The hypothesis results
in a theory on the influence of awareness on the interaction with dying people.
СодержаниеPART I: INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1. The problem of awareness of dying
Chapter 2. Expectations of death: a problem in social definition
PART II: TYPES OF AWARENESS CONTEXTS
Chapter 3. Closed awareness
Chapter 4. Suspicion awareness: the contest for control
Chapter 5. The ritual drama of mutual pretense
Chapter 6. The ambiguities of open awareness
Chapter 7. Discounting awareness
PART III: PROBLEMS OF AWARENESS
Chapter 8. Direct disclosure of terminality
Chapter 9. The unaware family
Chapter 10. The aware family
Chapter 11."Nothing more to do": the problem of no recovery
Chapter 12."Nothing more to do": the problem of comfort
Chapter 13. Awareness and the nurse's composure
PART IV: CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 14. The practical use of awareness theory
Chapter 15. Awareness and the study of social interaction
APPENDIX: Methods of collection and analysis of data
Index
