Black’s Book Wins 2016 AJN Book of the Year Award, First Place in Palliative Care/Hospice Category

Sincere congratulations to Associate Professor Beth Black, PhD, RN, whose book Perinatal and Pediatric Bereavement for Nursing and Other Health Professions (Springer Press) recently won a 2016 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year award, claiming first place in the Palliative Care/Hospice category.

Dr. Black co-edited the book with Rana Limbo, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC, FAAN of the Gunderson Health System and Patricia Wright, PhD, CRNP, ACNS-BC, CHPN, CNE of the University of Scranton.

“It was truly a labor of love,” said Black of the project, which was designed to fill a gap in the literature for health care providers working with parents, siblings and families touched byperinatal losses such as miscarriage and stillbirth, or the deaths of infants and children.

“Previously there was no comprehensive resource providing theoretical foundations of care for clinicians treating this unique patient population, and we wanted to change that,” said Black. “We’re very proud of what we were able to accomplish, and having the book recognized by our peers is really gratifying.”

With 18 chapters covering a breadth of topics related to grieving the loss of a child or a young sibling, Perinatal and Pediatric Bereavement is hailed as “a definitive, state-of-the-art resource on the vital pieces of perinatal and pediatric palliative care.”

Rebecca Kabatchnick, a current DNP student at UNC, supplied the book’s fifteenth chapter, titled “Remembering the ‘Forgotten Bereaved’: Understanding and Caring for Siblings of Completed Suicide Victims,” following up on work she conducted with Dr. Black as an honors student in our BSN program, class of 2013.

And in addition to editing and writing, Dr. Black also provided the book’s cover design. A labor of love, indeed.

Congratulations again on this great work, Beth!