End-of-Life Issues, Grief, and Bereavement What Clinicians Need to Know

Mental health care for older adults inevitably involves work with issues related to dying. This book provides a practical overview of clinical issues related to end-of-life care including grief and bereavement. Beginning with the physiology of the dying process and its effects on patients and their loved ones, the book addresses the range of psychological interventions that can ease the process for all. Topics include the integration of psychological services into palliative and hospice care, differential diagnosis of depression-grief-bereavement; complicated bereavement, interventions for conflicted families, and the role of the context of death on psychological services. As is characteristic of other books in this series, this book integrates research with practical clinical guidance.

Sara H. Qualls, PhD, is Professor of Psychology, Director of Clinical Training in Geropsychology, and Director of the Gerontology Center at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She has twenty years of academic, clinical, and continuing education training experience and is the co-chair of the Adult Development and Aging Division of the American Psychological Association (APA). Julia E. Kasl-Godley, PhD, is Coordinator of Psychology Training at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Interprofessional Palliative Care Fellowship Program in California. She has published on interventions for anticipatory grief and end-of-life care and is the recipient of the APA's 2003 Theodore Blau Early Career Award for Outstanding Contribution to Professional Clinical Psychology.