End-of-Life Studies Minor

End-of-life studies has become an important area of study for a variety of fields. There is a critical role in society for the professions that work with people who will die, are dying, and have died, along with their loved ones, as well as with those who have experienced loss. There is a critical need for those who will work with such individuals to receive some minimal training, not just in their primary field, but also in this aspect of their profession as they inevitable encounter people at the end of their lives.

This minor is ideal for students pursuing pre-health fields, such as nursing, pre-medicine, etc. Students in these fields will undoubtedly be faced with end-of-life issues during their careers. Such students will find opportunities to work directly in end-of-life care (e.g., palliative care and hospice care) and indirectly (e.g., in a wide range of medical specialties, for example oncology, cardiology, psychiatry, and geriatrics to name a few, and in various settings such as long-term care facilities and hospitals).

This minor will also be important for students pursuing gerontology, social work, and counseling, as end-of-life issues are frequently addressed in these fields. Students going into these kinds of human services fields will find opportunities to work directly in end-of-life care (e.g., palliative care, hospice care, end-of-life social work, bereavement counseling, funeral industry) and indirectly (e.g., in specialties such as medical, gerontological, and clinical social work, clinical and counseling psychology, and in settings where vulnerable populations are a primary clientele, such elderly adults, children and adults with disabilities, children and adults with substance use and mental disorders, to name a few). Students going into criminal justice and related fields will have to encounter and handle death on a regular basis, whether they are in emergency response, law enforcement and public safety, forensic science, or death investigations (i.e., medical examiners/coroners).

Gaining exposure to the theoretical and applied aspects of end-of-life studies will be beneficial for students in many programs including Anthropology, Biology, Communication and Media, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Human Services, and Crime Studies, among others. Students will expand their ability to connect theory and practice, examining death and dying from different disciplines, expanding their understanding of death, dying, and bereavement, and enhancing their ability to make connections among different disciplines. Students will become more comfortable discussing death and will be able to relate death to other aspects of life.

Through taking an applied course in either communication or ethics, students will gain valuable competencies in either communicating with those at the end of life (and their loved ones, health care providers, and/or caregivers) and/or understanding and applying ethical principles to end-of-life situations, which can be fraught with ethical dilemmas and questions. Also, students will gain cultural humility, as understanding different cultural perspectives on death and dying is a key component of several of the courses. All these skills and competencies are useful across fields and in various workforce settings. They will help the students to better navigate the complexity of the end of life in their various fields and to better guide those individuals and their families, as well as colleagues, in such situations.