Hospice Foundation of America Publishes New Book on Diversity and End-of...( WASHINGTON April 1 -- One of the...),Health

WASHINGTON, April 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hospice Foundation of America (HFA) announces the publication of Living With Grief(R): Diversity and End-of-Life Care, the most recent addition to HFA's Living With Grief(R) book series. Edited by Ken Doka, Ph.D. and Amy Tucci, the book is a compilation of chapters by well-known experts in grief and end-of-life care. The book examines how cultural diversity influences end-of-life decision making, shapes attitudes around the experience of terminal illness and death, and affects ritual and bereavement. Living With Grief(R): Diversity and End-of-Life Care has been developed in conjunction with HFA's annual Living With Grief(R) teleconference, a live satellite broadcast that will be moderated by Frank Sesno on April 29, 2009 and seen in more than 2,000 communities across North America.

One of the goals of the teleconference is to increase sensitivity by helping professionals acknowledge how their own cultural values and assumptions influence the delivery of care. The book allows professionals to delve into these issues more comprehensively, by looking at end-of-life care from a range of cultural, ethnic and spiritual perspectives. Chapters also examine other sources of diversity, such as persons with intellectual disabilities and deaf culture. Several "Cultural Capsules" that give tangible and succinct advice to those caring for members of minority groups are also included. View the full Table of Contents for more information.

In his Foreword to the book, Richard Payne, M.D., writes, "The distinctiveness of culture, language, social circumstance, religion, personality and gender are key foundations by which individuals find meaning and purpose in their living and dying and come to terms
'/>"/>