Date of Award

12-2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Nobuya Inagaki

Second Advisor

Dr. Lois Melina

Abstract

This study explores fear of death in end-of-life caregiving contexts via impressionistic autoethnographic narrative as performed on a blog with photographs and poems. This study relies on ethical assumptions for communicating dialogue, confirmation, and a performance narrative ethos in end of life. This study employs Terror Management Theory to identify a gap in existing empirical fear and death studies, and fills that gap by embedding its framework and method in the psychotherapeutic tradition to foster creative freedom and psychological safety and so break the cultural silence shrouding grief. Key findings show that the blog coordinated a therapeutic process to assuage death fears, but that other virtues besides fear performed in the text. These outcomes benefit narrative healthcare. Implications include leading for affective and spiritual healing and communicating compassion, creativity, and love. Recommendations for future research involve partnering with technology organizations, the arts, and social sciences to design communication systems to benefit people in healthcare organizations.

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