About this course

Learning Objectives

• Discuss their own attitudes towards death and dying and how it may impact one's ability to effectively work with a client toward end of life.
• Identify a client’s level of death anxiety and client's openness to discussing end of life issues.
• Recognize cultural and religious values that may impact a client’s willingness to discuss end of life or face their own dying process.
• Explain what advance care planning and an advance directive is to a client.
• Discuss how they would help a client identify one or more designated health care agents.
• Discuss how they would help a client assess their own values and wishes if they were unable to communicate at the end of life.

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Anisah Bagasra, Ph.D.

  Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Kennesaw State University

  Anisah Bagasra, Ph.D. from Saybrook University, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Kennesaw State University who specializes in behavioral health research in the Muslim American and African American faith communities. She teaches a wide range of psychology courses and mentors students engaged in undergraduate research with a focus on culturally competent research in minority communities. Specific research interests include Islamic Psychology, the impact of Islamophobia, teaching Death & Dying, and perceptions of mental illness. Her recent publications include four co-edited volumes, “Working with Muslim Clients in the Helping Professions”, and “The Changing Faces of Higher Education: From Boomers to Millennials” and ‘The Impact of HBCUs in the 21st Century’, and ‘Digital Narratives of Trauma among Immigrant and Refugee Women’ and numerous journal articles. She also conducts CE workshops in the area of religious and spiritual competencies for psychologists, conflict resolution, and community-based research. Dr. Bagasra has recently founded the Death, Dying & Bereavement Research Consortium to promote collaborative, interdisciplinary research within the field of Death & Dying.

Disclosure

References

• Bagasra, A., & Agans, G. (2026). Knowledge of advance care planning and advance directives among US adults: Implications for health policy and practice. Palliative care and social practice, 20, 26323524261444754. https://doi.org/10.1177/26323524261444754
• Fried, T. R., Bullock, K., Iannone, L., & O'leary, J. R. (2009). Understanding advance care planning as a process of health behavior change. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 57(9), 1547-1555. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02396.x
• Sudore, R. L., Lum, H. D., You, J. J., Hanson, L. C., Meier, D. E., Pantilat, S. Z., Matlock, D. D., Rietjens, J. A. C., Korfage, I. J., Ritchie, C. S., Kutner, J. S., Teno, J. M., Thomas, J., McMahan, R. D., & Heyland, D. K. (2017). Defining Advance Care Planning for Adults: A Consensus Definition From a Multidisciplinary Delphi Panel. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 53(5), 821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2016.12.331
• Crous, K., Kanareck, D., Thomas, M. A., Anderson, K., Tully, S., & Wand, A. P. F. (2026). Evaluation of a novel educational intervention for mental health staff on advance care planning with older people with mental illness. European Geriatric Medicine, 17(2), 917–927. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-026-01416-y
• Haverfield, M. C., Ma, J., Walling, A., Bekelman, D. B., Brown-Johnson, C., Lo, N., Lorenz, K. A., & Giannitrapani, K. F. (2024). Communication processes in an advance care planning initiative: A socio-ecological perspective for service evaluation. Palliative Medicine, 38(10), 1134–1143. https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241277394