death literacy

As soon as we extended literacy to mean ‘the reading of the jargon and underlying assumptions of a particular field of study’ the way was open for a number of different kinds of literacy.  Computer literacy was among the first but it was followed by critical literacy, emotional literacy, and then health literacy.  Death literacy is most closely modelled on health literacy which is the ability to wade through the jargon of the health profession and be competent in understanding medical advice, correctly following through on treatments and medications, and navigating the health system.  Death literacy is a term coined by Dr Kerrie Noonan, a clinical psychologist and social researcher, who is trying to make Australians death literate. She argues that with knowledge comes control of the situation and a reduction in anxiety.  Death literacy is to her the understanding that we have of the death system in our society which, she says,  ‘is about understanding the components and functions that we exist within that mediate our experience of death, dying, loss, and grief.’