ABSTRACT
The scope that the title of this chapter implies is enormous, and could not be dealt with in any depth in the space available. I intend therefore to limit the area of discussion to a particular group, within the client group specified, and to a specific area of concern with these people. Everyone just over retirement age could be elderly, and there are many young people who are terminally ill. I shall not be addressing myself to the particular problems of either of these groups, although I hope much of what I have to say will have a wider implication. The client group with whom I have had the most experience, and who are the particular concern of this chapter, are those people, usually living in institutions, who are very old (in their eighties or nineties), perhaps suffering from a terminal condition, and yet who are not senile, and who could be aware that their life might be soon coming to an end.
