The study of human reproduction has focused on reproductive 'success' and on the struggle to achieve this, rather than on the much more common experience of 'failure', or reproductive loss. Drawing on the latest research from The UK and Europe, The United States, Australia and Africa, this volume examines the experience of reproductive loss in its widest sense to include termination of pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, perinatal and infant death, as well as - more broadly - the loss of desired normative experiences such as that associated with infertility, assisted reproduction and the medicalisation of 'high risk' pregnancy and birth. Exploring the commonalities, as well as issues of difference and diversity, Understanding Reproductive Loss presents international work from a variety of multi-disciplinary perspectives and will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists with interests in medicine, health, the body, death studies and gender.

The study of human reproduction has focused on reproductive 'success' and on the struggle to achieve this, rather than on the much more common experience of 'failure', or reproductive loss. Drawing on the latest research from The UK and Europe, The United States, Australia and Africa, this volume examines the experience of reproductive loss in its widest sense to include termination of pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, perinatal and infant death, as well as - more broadly - the loss of desired normative experiences such as that associated with infertility, assisted reproduction and the medicalisation of 'high risk' pregnancy and birth. Exploring the commonalities, as well as issues of difference and diversity, Understanding Reproductive Loss presents international work from a variety of multi-disciplinary perspectives and will appeal to sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists with interests in medicine, health, the body, death studies and gender.

This Reader provides a comprehensive collection of literature that aims to enable those involved in care services, as workers, carers or service users, to reflect on their everyday interactions and to situate them in wider contexts. Including new material from the frontline of research and practice, as well as some classic readings, this wide-ranging volume emphasises the need to see interpersonal communication as embedded in relationships, and to take account of issues of power and diversity, as well are, the book is concerned with caring, professional and inter-professional communication and relationships.

- The Reader is divided into four sections, focusing on:
- concepts and contexts
- analysing aspects of communication
- the person in the process
- communication and relationships in organisations

Communication, Relationships and Care will be an essential resource for students of social work, nursing, health and social policy, and for all involved in health and social care services, whether as professionals, carers or service users. It is a set book for the Open University's second level undergraduate course Communication and Relationships in Health and Social Care (K205)

Contents:
Introduction 1. Communication, relationships and care: the changing context 2. Themes and issues in communication and relationships 3. Developing good practice 4.Communication and relationships in care organisations.

This book uses personal memoir to examine links between private trauma and the socio-cultural approach to death and memory developed within Death Studies. The authors, two key Death Studies scholars, tell the stories that constitute their family lives. Each bears witness to the experiences of men who were either killed or traumatised during World War One and World War Two and shows the ongoing implications of these events for those left behind. The book illustrates how the rich oral history and material culture legacy bequeathed by these wars raises issues for everyone alive today. Belonging to a generation who grew up in the shadow of war, Komaromy and Hockey ask how we can best convey unimaginable events to later generations, and what practical, moral and ethical demands this brings. Family Life, Trauma and Loss in the Twentieth Century will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including Death Studies, Military History, Research Methods, Family History, the Sociology of the Family and Life Writing.

This book uses personal memoir to examine links between private trauma and the socio-cultural approach to death and memory developed within Death Studies. The authors, two key Death Studies scholars, tell the stories that constitute their family lives. Each bears witness to the experiences of men who were either killed or traumatised during World War One and World War Two and shows the ongoing implications of these events for those left behind. The book illustrates how the rich oral history and material culture legacy bequeathed by these wars raises issues for everyone alive today. Belonging to a generation who grew up in the shadow of war, Komaromy and Hockey ask how we can best convey unimaginable events to later generations, and what practical, moral and ethical demands this brings. Family Life, Trauma and Loss in the Twentieth Century will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including Death Studies, Military History, Research Methods, Family History, the Sociology of the Family and Life Writing.

This collection shows what happens when facing the inevitable and sometimes expected death of a parent, and how such an ordinary part of life as parental death might connect with the children left behind. In many ways, individual deaths are extraordinary and leave a unique legacy - a kind of haunting. The authors' accounts seek to make sense of death through witnessing its enactment and recording its detail. All the authors are experienced researchers in the field of death studies, and their collective expertise encompasses ethnography, psychology, sociology and anthropology. The individual descriptions of death and grief capture the everyday practicalities of managing death and dying, including, for example, the difficulties of caring responsibilities and the realities of dealing with strained family relationships. These accounts show the raw detail of death; they are deeply personal observations framed within critical theories. As established scholars and practitioners that have researched and worked in end-of-life and bereavement care, the authors in this anthology offer a unique perspective on how identity is shaped by a close bereavement. The book employs a strong editorial narrative that blends memoir with theoretical engagement, and will be of interest to death studies scholars, as well as practitioners involved in end-of-life care and bereavement care and anyone who has experienced the death of a parent.

This book draws together a range of both classic and newly commissioned pieces on the multidisciplinary study of death and dying. Organized into five parts, the book begins with a general exploration of the meaning of death, before moving on to consider caring at the end-of-life. Further readings explore the moral and ethical dilemmas in the context of death and dying. The fourth part of the book examines the issue of grief and ritual after death, while the final part considers some of the issues that arise when researching in the field of death and dying. By drawing together information, reflection and experience this authoritative text will broaden your understanding of the subject area. The book will be a core text for students in nursing, medicine, social work, counselling and health and social care. It will also be essential reading for all professionals and carers who come into contact with death and bereavement. Death and Dying: A Reader is the Set Book for the Open University course Death and Dying (K260).

This anthology offers a unique collection of personal accounts of death, dying and bereavement. It examines representations of death, dying and bereavement in fiction, poetry, the media and the Internet, as well as exploring visual representations of death and dying. Included are: - visual representations of the changing meaning of death within societies - examples of the ways in which the Web is being used to give and receive support when people are dying or when they have been bereaved - the moral, ethical and emotional issues involved in caring for people at the end-of-life - lay and professional personal accounts of miscarriage and the death of family members including children, siblings and parents; suicide and assisted suicide, the role of humour after someone dies, intimacy at the end-of-life and the impact of autopsy - reflections from survivors and people who have been bereaved following traumatic and mass death and disaster. This highly distinctive book will be key reading for professionals, students and those involved in the care of dying and bereaved people.