Continuing Bonds: Exploring the meaning and legacy of death through past and contemporary practice.

这个项目将探讨临床和历史学科之间关于死亡和垂死的对话。该项目的目的是双重的：明确展示考古学如何告知我们目前对死亡和垂死的态度，从而帮助塑造政策和实践;并探索医疗保健专业人员和考古学家之间合作的价值。考古学家发现的处理死亡和死者的不同方法将为我们当前的态度带来不同的视角，因此有助于对当今的禁忌地位进行必要的重新审视，即死亡是人类不可避免的经历。死亡在日常生活中很少被讨论，主要是因为害怕它引起的情绪。这对个人和家庭在疾病和年老体弱时的决策有相当大的影响。支撑这项工作的基本假设是，通过考古学的例子引入死亡的话题，对死亡的讨论可以变得更加普遍，更加情感上的分离，希望更熟悉。通过将这一话题带回对话领域，许多恐惧可以得到缓解，实用性和偏好可以得到讨论。通过创建一个对死亡的时间洞察纲要，特别是丧亲之痛，损失和纪念的基本共鸣，该项目将塑造关于当代实践和历史观点如何相互了解的思考。它提供了一个更开明的方法来对待我们人类生活中一个基本的和不可避免的时刻。该项目将与非专业观众以及健康、社会和精神护理领域的学生和专业人士，包括护理学生、精神护理从业人员、辅导员和医科学生一起测试这种方法。它将设法利用材料来促使与会者反思和审查他们自己对死亡、纪念和与死者的持续联系的家庭和文化态度。它还将借鉴过去，探讨祖先的概念，以及这与当代对遗产、持续联系和我们作为后代祖先的前景的考虑有何关系。这将通过与利益攸关方团体举办一系列专题讲习班和采取行动研究办法来实现，每次讲习班都为今后的讲习班提供信息，并努力为公众举办一个展览。利益相关者研讨会将与两个以“持续联系”为主题的“死亡意识周”活动一起举办，这两个活动将包括公众观众，并将成为展览材料的主要传播活动。在项目结束时，将与中学教师一起举办一个探索性研讨会，以评估将材料引入学校作为“死亡教育”的一部分的可行性，这是当前项目之外的工作重点。该项目将为进一步跨学科研究生与死的基本问题奠定基础，展示明显不同的学科如何相互帮助、提供信息并互利互惠。该项目建立在PI和CoIs开展的现有研究计划的基础上，该计划已经在考古学和医疗保健之间建立了网络，并与利益相关者探讨了这里提出的想法，包括姑息治疗护士、精神护理从业者和卫生保健领域的学者，项目开发得到了压倒性的支持。在临终关怀周（2014年5月）期间，由CoI（1）组织了一次成功的试点研讨会，PI在会上发表了主题演讲。对这项研究的网络和支持已经到位，并在不断增长，创造了一个令人兴奋的和新的跨学科的方法来对待死亡，垂死，遗产和记忆的态度，以及人文研究的影响的有形展示。

This project will examine a dialogue about death and dying between the clinical and historical disciplines. The aim of the project is two-fold: to demonstrate tangibly how archaeology can inform our current attitudes to death and dying, and thereby help shape policy and practice; and to explore the value of collaboration between health care professionals and archaeologists. The diverse methods of dealing with death and the dead uncovered by archaeologists will bring a different perspective to our current attitudes and therefore contribute towards a necessary re-examination of today's taboo status of death as an inevitable human experience.Death is rarely discussed in everyday life mostly for fear of the emotions it raises. This has considerable consequences for individuals and families in decision-making in illness and frailty of old age. The fundamental hypothesis underpinning this work is that through introducing the topic of death through archaeological examples, discussions of death can become more commonplace, more emotionally detached and hopefully more familiar. Through bringing this topic back into the conversational realm, many fears can be alleviated and practicalities and preferences can be discussed.Through creating a compendium of insights into death through time, particularly the fundamental resonance of bereavement, loss and commemoration, the project will shape thinking on how contemporary practice and historical perspectives can be mutually informed. It offers a more enlightened approach to a fundamental and inevitable moment in our human lives.The project will test out this approach with both lay audiences and with students and professionals in health, social and spiritual care, including nursing students, spiritual care practitioners, counsellors, and medical students. It will seek to use materials to prompt reflection and examination of participants' own familial and cultural approaches to death, commemoration and continuing bonds with those that have died. It will also draw on the past to explore the concept of ancestors, and how this relates to contemporary considerations of legacy, continuing bonds, and the prospect of ourselves as ancestors of future generations. This will be achieved through a series of thematic workshops with the stakeholder groups and an action research approach, with each workshop informing future workshops, as well as working towards an exhibition intended for the public. Stakeholder workshops will run in conjunction with two 'Dying Awareness Week' events on the theme of Continuing Bonds, which will include a public audience, and will be the primary dissemination event for exhibition materials.Towards the close of the project, an exploratory workshop will be held with secondary teachers, to assess the viability of introducing material into schools as part of a 'Death Education', with this the focus of work beyond the current project. The project will provide a foundation for further interdisciplinary approaches to fundamental issues of life and death, demonstrating how disciplines which are apparently diverse can aid, inform, and mutually benefit from each other.This project builds on an existing programme of research undertaken by the PI and CoIs, which has developed networks between archaeology and healthcare, and explored the ideas raised here with stakeholders, including palliative nurses, spiritual care practitioners, and academics in health care, receiving overwhelming support for project development. A successful pilot workshop has also taken place, organised by CoI(1) during Dying Awareness Week (May 2014), where the PI delivered a keynote lecture. The networks and support for this research are in place and growing, creating an exciting and new interdisciplinary approach to attitudes to death, dying, legacy, and memory, and a tangible demonstration of the impact of humanities research.