If you have ever felt the need to be part of a bigger conversation than the ones taking place in your neighbourhood or state or even Australia, then here’s an opportunity to be part of a world-wide discussion about death and dying.  It costs nothing but a few hours a week.

The course writers note that:

With increasingly ageing populations, we are living longer but dying more slowly. You will discover the patterns and global trends taking place in palliative care, and explore these new approaches from a social science and humanities perspective.

Subjects will include:

• Why is end of life care important, who provides it, and what is ‘dying’?
• ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ dying
• Hospital care at the end of life
• How communities around the world are creating new ways to deliver palliative care
• How ‘compassionate communities’ are forming to work alongside service providers
• The world-wide interest in group conversations such as ‘Death Café’.
• Many people want to take direct control over how they die. Where is assisted dying legal and what are its implications?
• Rational suicide – an emerging response to the desire for direct control over the manner of one’s death, especially among older people.
• How modern individuals seek to ‘curate’ their dying process and the rituals that follow it.

End of Life Care: Challenges and Innovation has been developed by the End of Life Studies Group based at the University of Glasgow, the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world.  It’s free and available online.

To find out more, click on the link: Future Learn: End of life care