Health Sciences 2711A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Biopsychosocial Model, Assisted Suicide, Kübler-Ross Model
Document Summary
Death is a biological event, while it has a significant psychological meaning to the individual and their social network with various sociocultural interpretations. Death is the greatest unknown regarding its definition. From erikson"s concept of generativity and ego integrity, many people want to leave something behind to be remembered by. From the biopsychosocial perspective, death and dying are multidimensional. Signs of death include breathing irregularly, having visual-auditory hallucinations, producing less urine, excessive bodily fluid secretions, being less able to see, etc. In older adults, they are less likely to be able to eat, walk, or recognize family members. The two major features of the dying trajectory are duration and shape. The first trajectory involves people w/ no prior knowledge of illness they function normally and then show precipitous decent. The second trajectory involves people whose disease causes a predictable decline. The third trajectory involves people who go through a generally downward course that is marked by significant drops.