| Abstract: |
Discusses the specific social and psychological tasks that confront individuals dying of AIDS. These tasks consist of maintaining a meaningful quality of life with disease and the threat of death, coping with disfigurement and loss of function, confronting existential and spiritual questions, and planning for surviving friends and family. These tasks are similar to those confronting individuals with other terminal illnesses; however, important differences exist. The young age of the patient, the nature of the disease process, and the social context in which the death occurs have a profound impact on intervention and treatment. Social work interventions should take into account these parameters of the illness and assist the person in fulfilling these tasks to the extent possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) |
