SW 670 - Grief and Loss Across the Life Cycle

3 Credit(s)

This course is taught in seminar style and focuses upon understanding losses and appropriate interventions for clients who endure loss across the life cycle. These losses include death, community disaster, and chronic illness. The following are addressed: perinatal loss (including SIDS), loss of a child and a child’s reaction to loss, loss of an adolescent and an adolescent’s reaction to loss (sibling, friend, parent), losses in early and middle adulthood (parental loss, spouse/partner loss, and loss of an adult child), loss in later life (including chronic illness and its affect on the individual and family), disenfranchised loss (domestic partners, gay and lesbian partners), the dying patient, end of life issues, community resources (including hospice), and support networks. Theoretical perspectives are drawn from both traditional and postmodern approaches to grief and loss. Issues of cultural diversity are addressed throughout the course.