•The psychological aspects of this process are sometimes referred to as levels of awareness. •The levels of awareness have been described by Glaser and Strauss since 1965. •Closed Awareness •The patient doesn’t know about the terminal diagnosis but everyone around him does •Suspicious Awareness •The patient is becoming aware that things are not as he originally thought
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•Mutual Pretense •The patient and others in the environment know he is dying but choose to pretend otherwise •Open Awareness •The patient and others in the environment know of the impending death and can still relate to each other in spite of this knowledge. •This is the optimal situation.
The patient and family move back & forth between levels of awareness. |