Death Education and History of Thanatology - formal and informal methods of acquiring and disseminating knowledge about dying, death, and bereavement.  This includes social movements and social representations of death that impact our awareness and perceptions of death and have driven the evolution of death education.  This may also include important theorists, researchers, clinicians, educators, and authors who have shaped the field of thanatology and contributed to its body of knowledge.

Dying and Foreseen Death - the holistic experience of living with life-threatening / life-limiting illness, caring for the terminally ill, the dying process, and the experience of death for the person who is dying and the significant people in their life.

End-of-Life Decision Making - the medical, legal, ethical and interpersonal choices, decisions and behaviors of individuals, families and professionals that are important in the process of planning for one’s death. This includes conversations about values, exploring patient and family issues, assessment tools, education, advance care planning documents, rights and responsibilities, medical aid in dying, organ and tissue donations, funeral and body disposition planning, etc.

Traumatic and Unforeseen Death – a death that is unanticipated, shocking, or violent; may be inflicted, self-inflicted or unintentional. This includes the immediate and long-term needs of all who are impacted by suicide, homicide, accidents, mass tragedies, and other unforeseen deaths.  

Death Loss: Grief, Mourning, and Memorialization -  the experience of grieving and mourning following a death from any cause. This includes the holistic experience of and reactions to the death, grief process, mourning and memorialization practices, and rituals surrounding loss and grief.

Non-Death Loss: Grief, Mourning, and Memorialization - the experience of grieving and mourning non-death losses which may include, loss of one's health and abilities through aging, illness or disability, loss of a relationship or marriage through separation or divorce, loss of identity and social role through infertility, unemployment, immigration/migration retrenchment or retirement, loss of freedoms through incarceration, loss of community through natural and man-made disasters, etc.