Professional psychology's role in hospice care

This article explores the existing and potential contributions that professional psychology brings to the growing hospice movement. It explores hospice care's unique philosophy in treating dying patients and their families and provides a psychologically based justification for this philosophy. To do so, the author draws on the literature of health psychology, behavioral medicine, and thanatology (death studies). The article ends with a discussion of recent developments in hospice care that provide expanding opportunities for professional psychologists.