AWARENESS OF DEATH AMONG CHILDREN - DOES A LIFE-THREATENING ILLNESS ALTER THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY

The authors review studies on death awareness among children who are h ealthy, chronically ill, and terminally ill. The review suggests that children with life-threatening diseases demonstrate increased understa nding of death compared with children who are either healthy or chroni cally ill. In particular; children with terminal illness especially du ring the end stage of their disease, show an advanced understanding of the death concepts of irreversibility and finality. In contrast, heal thy and chronically ill children appear to require certain age, cognit ive developmental level, or intelligence thresholds to understand thes e concepts. Possible explanations for the findings in this literature are discussed. The implications of death awareness research for counse lors are used as a base for suggesting counseling strategies.