ABSTRACT
Death is the final stage in the lifespan development. No matter what age it occurs,
it is the termination of human life. The process of emotionally, mentally, and
physically preparing for our own death or the death of a significant family
member is unique and influenced by a great number of factors such as age,
relationship, and cultural influences (Adams, 2005; Dutro, 1994; Weiss, 1998).
Culture is defined here in the broadest definition. Doka and Davidson (1998)
identified cultural factors to include race, gender, geographic region, religion,
socioeconomic, and sexual orientation. Dutro (1994) addressed a cultural group’s
beliefs, standards, attitudes, and mores as markers to be considered when looking
at the reaction to death, while Neimeyer (2001) suggested that even within a
specific cultural group, individuals make unique meaning out of a person’s death.
An attempt to address all these variables is beyond the scope of this chapter;
however a brief journey into the world of two different client cases, and the
factors that influenced the grieving process, will be examined from the perspec-
tive of the Transactional Analysis theoretical model (Berne, 1964; Gladding,
2000; Harris, 1969), Kübler-Ross’ (1969) stages of dying, and Worden’s (2009)
tasks related to postdeath grieving in an attempt to understand family members’
differences in coping with death.
