The Handbook of Thanatology, Third Edition: The Essential Body of Knowledge for the Study of Death, Dying, and Bereavement

The third edition of the Handbook of Thanatology is an accessible volume that offers essential knowledge in the field of thanatology in a format that is practical for both novices and those with extensive experience in the field. Using ADEC's Body of Knowledge Outline, the editors guided authors for this third edition of the Handbook to elaborate on the content baskets suggested by the Outline's headings. Like the Outline, this edition of the Handbook is comprehensive but not exhaustive. Initial chapters emphasize foundational topics including definitions of death, death-related attitudes, the epidemiology and demography of death, end-of-life care, and memorialization. The middle chapters focus on grief theories, distinct conceptualizations and considerations of grief based on cause of death, and problematic grief. The volume concludes with chapters highlighting the broad topics of death education, professional practice, history of the field, social presentations of death, and non-death losses.

Helen Stanton Chapple, PhD, RN, MA, MSN is a professor at Creighton University. She teaches online in the Masters in Bioethics Program. Her 20 years at the bedside included oncology, hospice, research, and ICU nursing. She is a past president of ADEC, past chair of its Credentialing Council, and received the ADEC Service Award. She has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters. Her book, No Place for Dying: Hospitals and the Ideology of Rescue is published by Routledge.

Heather L. Servaty-Seib, PhD, HSPP is a professor of counseling psychology at Purdue University-West Lafayette, IN, US. She is well published in the areas of college student grief and the broad use of the concept of loss in conceptualizing life events. She has co-edited two prior volumes (Assisting Bereaved College Students--Jossey Bass; We Get It: Voices of Grieving College Students and Young Adults--Jessica Kingsley) and her scholarship has been used to establish student grief absence policies at higher education institutions across the United States. She is a past president of ADEC and received the ADEC Death Educator Award.