Death, dying and grief in a transcultural context: application of the Giger and Davidhizar assessment model.

One of the most challenging aspects of death education and grief counseling is providing care and education that is relevant to the cultural, racial, and ethnic needs of the client. Often appropriate responses are difficult due to the lack of a relevant model; otherwise practitioners tend to operate from facts collected in isolation. This article reports on an assessment model originally developed in nursing by Giger and Davidhizar and discusses its potential use in providing culturally relevant death education and grief counseling.