HOW TO EFFECTIVELY CARE FOR BUDDHISTS AT THE END OF LIFE

 234 HOW TO EFFECTIVELY CARE FOR BUDDHISTS AT THE END OF LIFE 

 Dr. WN Sisto

https://www.academia.edu/102000471/Buddhists_and_Dying_How_to_Effectively_Care_for_Buddhists_at_the_End_of_Life

This paper illustrates what the Buddhist religion does well with regard to coping with dying and then offers suggestions as to how caretakers of Buddhist patients can offer more effective care by maximizing opportunities for positive religious coping. Due to time constraints, it examines two religious traditions within the Upstate New York region, the Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist communities. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that in both traditions, Buddhists cope with dying well because their community and tradition address the physical, spiritual, psychological, and social dimensions of a person; moreover, healthcare for members of these communities that are at the end of life stages shall be more effective if caretakers allow room for the expression of their patient’s religious tradition. For the purpose of clarity, this paper is divided into three sections. While section one briefly introduces the tasks of coping with dying as evinced by Charles Corr, section two examines how Chinese and Tibetan Buddhists cope with dying. The final section offers suggestions as to how health care professionals can be more sensitive to the needs of dying Buddhist patients and maximize opportunities for effective care. Section One: Coping With Dying On the subject of coping with dying, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is a household name. The five psychological stages of dying that she propounds in On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families (1969) have a ubiquitous influence on American culture and understanding of the death process. Nevertheless, scholarship in the last few decades has criticized her theory for a variety of reasons including that it places the patient in a passive role that subjugates them to a pre-established emotional model that fails to take into account the complexity of human individuality and experience. There are a variety of new models operative today in the field of death studies. Charles Corr’s task-based method is a leading theory to date due to his academic accomplishments, influence on the hospice movement, and the simplicity of his model. The book he edited Hospice Care: Principles and Practice (1983) is a classic text on hospice philosophy and care. Therefore, many hospice organizations as well as bereavement organizations draw from Corr’s insights and research. Much of what Corr describes for effective care, which is care that actively involves the patient, is already integrated in hospice philosophy, which grants further credence to his theory, as the growth in hospice enrollment and facilities in the United States has been “nothing short of phenomenal” in recent years (C. Corr & D. Corr, 2013). For these reasons, Corr’s theory is employed throughout this paper. As opposed to providing a road map through the dying process, Corr proposes an individualized plan of action that is based on addressing what he defines as the four dimensions of a person: the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. The physical dimension involves the biological needs as well as opinions on palliative drugs, do not resuscitate (DNR), and the end of life care. Human beings are social beings. The social dimension refers to this dimension of the person, in particular judgments regarding the evaluation of relationships to persons, things, or the broader society. The psychological dimension refers primarily to a person’s ability to make decisions for himself/herself that help him/her to retain his/her sense of dignity and autonomy. With respect to this dimension, the most mundane actions such as shaving or going to the bathroom can be the most significant. The spiritual dimension refers to how that person views the meaning of their life. Dying entails the breakdown of the above constituent dimensions. Nevertheless, Corr offers a means to be proactive as well as to provide health care professionals and the terminally-ill with a plan of action.