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Death Notification: Breaking the Bad News With Concern for the Professional and Compassion for the Survivor: A Seminar for Law Enforcement

NCJ Number
162363
Author(s)
J H Lord
Date Published
1996
Length
155 pages
Annotation
This manual presents the agenda, content, handouts, background information, and trainer's guidelines for a seminar intended to teach law enforcement professionals about the emotional hazards of their work and about compassionate and thorough death notifications.
Abstract
The curriculum focuses on the experiences of the families of homicide survivors with death notifications and through the first few weeks after the death. The materials also cover the stress experienced by crisis responders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and secondary traumatization. The training materials emphasize that most families in which someone was killed say that the most traumatic moment of their life was the notification of the death of their loved one. Similarly, most people who are required to deliver death notifications say that it is the most difficult part of their job. The manuals presents guidelines for planning a seminar on death notification, suggestions for training adults, a content outline, an annotated literature review, overheads to use during the seminar, and handouts. List of audiovisual materials, evaluation form, other forms, and 101 references