In the Face of Death

Describes and analyzes the impact that the caregiving process has upon health care professionals, teams, and institutions which provide services to people who are dying and bereaved. This book uses case examples from clinical practice as well as verbatim accounts of nurses and physicians to illustrate the concepts presented.

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Occasionally I read a book and say to myself that this is a book that I wished I had written. This is such a book! It is a delightful, practical, interesting, and inspiring book! Danai has written a soon-to-be classic in the field! Her writing is excellent! Her use of theories, concepts, history, and models are wonderful!"--Illness, Crisis and Loss

Danai PapadatouÖ[presents] an approach of Relational Care, care based on an understanding of relationships, that should be essential readingÖ.[S]he writes in an engaging and non-technical language, and manages to convey complex ideas in a manner that is accessible to all.


--Colin Murray Parkes, OBE, MD, FRCPsych
President, Cruse: Bereavement Care
(From the Foreword)


"[A] wonderful contribution to the literature on caregiving and her well thought out ideas about relational caregiving are on the cutting edge. Congratulations."


-- Lynne Ann DeSpelder
CoAuthor, The Last Dance: Encountering Death and Dying, 8th edition


This is no ordinary academic textbook. It is nothing short of a masterpiece in which Papadatou provides the field of death, dying and bereavement with invaluable and constructive insights into the world of caring for the dying and bereaved."--Grief Matters

This is a fascinating book, applying important theoretical modelsÖin order to describe and speculate about how professionals manage to work in an environment where suffering and grief are constantly present. This is an important and substantial addition to the mostly self-help literature about self-care for caregivers."--Doody's Medical Reviews

In the Face of Death explores the experiences of health care professionals who care for the seriously ill, the dying, and the bereaved. In this book, Danai Papadatou offers a practical approach to caregiving, as well as a breadth and depth of insight into both the patient's and the caregiver's responses to death.

The author discusses the issues and challenges health care professionals face when treating dying and bereaved patients. Topics include: compassion fatigue, the inevitability of suffering and the potential for growth, suffering in the workplace, team functioning in death situations, and team resilience.

The main themes are:




The Caring Relationship focuses on the relationship between the care provider and the person who is dying or grieving, and proposes a new, relationship-based model of care
The Care Provider in Death Situations addresses the health professional's personal responses to death, using a model that illustrates the grieving process of the health professional
The Team in the Face of Death provides recommendations for effective, interdisciplinary care services that support dying or bereaved patients as well as the health care provider