Abstract: Nursing faculty across the United States were surveyed about their knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives of near-death experiences (NDEs) and deathbed visions (DBVs) through web-based administration of the Near-Death Phenomena Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire (Thornburg, 1988). Of the approximately 550 responses, 13% of respondents indicated that they personally had experiences an NDE, 48% that they have cared for a patient reporting an NDE, and 46% that they have cared for a patient reporting a DBV. Item-level ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the two attitude components of the survey, revealing a complex set of relationships between attitudes, experience, and other individual-level characteristics. The results underscore the importance of ongoing research into near-death phenomena and inclusion of NDEs and DBVs as content areas in nursing curriculum.

Abstract: This article reviews professional nursing's philosophical and professional mandates that direct nurses to acquire accurate knowledge and skills in order to care competently for near-death experiencers (NDErs). In addition, the article briefly describe the NDE phenomenon and aftereffects, discusses the author's NDEs in the professional context of her status as a nurse, and addresses the challenges NDErs encounters because of a lack of knowledge by nurses about NDEs. It concludes with a review of the current state of nursing education relevant to NDEs, suggestions for and resources available to faculty to create NDE curricula for nursing students, and continuing education opportunities for nurses and other medical professionals.

Abstract: In this article, I respond to a critique by Michael Rush of a 2006 article from this Journal in which I and my co-authors described a case of a near-death experience with veridical components and an inexplicable healing. I address each point from the critique in the order in which it was raised. Overall, I found most of the criticism to have been points I had already addressed in previous publications, and the critique also provided my an opportunity to clarify a few points I had not previously detailed. For me, this professional exchange has served to underscore the difficulty of conducting methodologically sound prospective research on near-death experiences.

Abstract: Previously in this Journal, Holden and Christian (2005) profiled patterns in the field of near-death studies through an analysis of the scholarly publications from Near-Death Experiences: Index to the Periodical Literature through 2001. In this article, we provide an updated analysis of a similar type through 2011. The body of literature on which we based this analysis included 892 scholarly articles by 629 authors spanning more than a century. We report on patterns related to publication dates and venues, experts and their most cited articles, and most and least published topics in the field - both with regard to current status and in comparison to 2001. We discuss limitations of our analysis and implications of it for the future of scholarship in the field of near-death studies.

Abstract: An article titled "A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing" by Penny Sartori, Paul Badham, and Peter Fenwick was published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies in 2006. The authors concluded that the reported case strengthened "the cumulative experience derived from many other individual cases that suggest that our current models of consciousness must expand in order to provide and adequate explanation of NDEs" (p. 83). However, a closer examination of Sartori et al.'s paper raises significant questions about their methodology and interpretation of their findings. In particular, certain methodological weaknesses and possible interpretation biases undermine the paper's conclusions. This critique addresses both Sartori et al.'s original paper and relevant parts of Sartori's (2008) Ph.D. thesis published subsequently.

Letter Rudolph H. Smit written to the editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies on the topic "When Ideology Overrules Science."

Letter from JoseLuis Sandoval to the editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies on the topic "Haunted Hotel: Who of the Two Was the Visitor?"

Letter written to the editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies on the topic "Investigating Iranian Shiite Muslim Near-Death Experiences: Background, Methodological Considerations, and Preliminary Comments."

Michael J. Rush discusses Penny Sartori's response to his critiques of her article "A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing."

Abstract: In this article, I propose to replace the term a "Peak in Darien" experience, which seems to be recently gaining ground, with some other term. Two reasons for this proposal are: (a) the term, taken from John Keats's well-known poem "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," is based on a series of misunderstanding over the years, and (b) using an expression requiring idiosyncratic cultural knowledge irrelevant to the topic may not be the best approach in scientific writing that will be widely read in both Western and non-Western cultures. As a possible substitute, I propose the terms "Encounter with Known Decedent Not Known to Have Died" (EKD) and "Encounter with Unknown Decedent (EUD)" to refer to the relevant cases.

Editorial statement introducing the contents of the journal issue and providing other relevant notes.

Abstract: Fifty-three adult members of the American Center for the Integration of Spiritually Transformative Experiences completed an online author-created survey about their spiritually transformative experiences (STEs) as children. Included among the survey questions were age at STE; STE contents and aftereffects, both beneficial and challenging, both at home and at school; and recommendations for both experiencers and their parents. Results are reported as descriptive statistics with selected narrative responses. Findings of this exploratory study include that, following their STEs, some participants reportedly felt supported by those around them, but most felt isolated and different from their peers and needed acceptance and affirmation from the closest to them. The article concludes with limitations of the study and recommendations for future research.

Editorial statement introducing the contents of the journal issue and providing other relevant notes.

Editorial statement introducing the contents of the journal issue and providing other relevant notes.

Abstract: This article represents my presentation at the inaugural 2012 American Center for the Integration of Spiritually Transformative Experiences (ACISTE) Annual Conference; it contains four main sections. The first section focuses on defining the parameters of the contents and includes discussions of what constitutes healthy and unhealthy integration, spiritual emergence and emergency, quantum change, spiritual conversion, and spontaneous awakening experiences. The second section includes four conceptual models utilized to help understand spiritually transformative experiences (STEs): Wilber's, Rummet's, and Wade's developmental models and Assagioli's model of the self. The third section introduces methods I use when working with clients, and the fourth section further provides recent research on topics related to STEs. My goal throughout was to catalyze further discussion regarding what constitutes integration of an STE and how this process relates to current psychospiritual models, therapeutic approaches, and research.

Abstract: The Purpose of the exploratory research was to learn if adults who had childhood near-death experiences (NDEs) sometime between pre-birth to age 17 years had psychotherapy and if they believed it helped them achieve psychological integration of their NDEs. Participants completed three instruments: the NDE Scale (Greyson, 1990), the author-developed Childhood NDE and Psychotherapy Questionnaire, and the three Subjective and Psychological Well-Being Scales (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2008). Of 29 respondents, 23 met the NDE Scale criteria for an NDE. Results for the 15 (67%) who had engaged in psychological integration of NDE's and more positive emotional feelings (r = .77, p < .01) and fewer negative emotions (r = -.84, p < .01). The correlation between psychological integration of NDE and success with a small effect (r = .16, p > .10). The psychotherapy factors identified by participants as successful i helping them process and integrate their NDE's included having a therapist who accepted the NDE as real and validated the experience and who helped the NDEr express thoughts and feelings about, explore the meaning of, and resolve any guilt around the NDE. Results supported the idea that psychological integration of NDEs is related to subjective and psychological wellbeing, …

Abstract: Seventy-one clients (50 females, 21 males) who were treated with Induced After-Death Communication (IADC) therapy completed the author-developed Grief Symptom Questionnaire (GSQ) before and after the two-session treatment protocol and at six months post-treatment. Factor analyses revealed three factors - Depression, Anger, and Positive Coping - underlying nine GSQ items. Seventy-nine percent of the sample reported experiencing an IADC during treatment - an experience of communication with a deceased loved one they were grieving. In comparison with pre-treatment, at post-treatment participants reported statistically significant improvements in their grief symptoms, an increase in belief in an afterlife, an improvement in Positive Coping, and decreased Anger and Depression. Implications of the findings and methodological limitations are discussed.

Abstract: The professional near-death literature contains cases in which near-death experiencers reported that during their experiences (NDEs), they perceived phenomena in the material world that, based on the condition and position of their physical bodies, they should not have been able to perceive, and yet these perceptions were subsequently verified as accurate. Only a few of these cases of apparently non-physical veridical perception during NDEs have been carefully researched. In this article, we report a case described originally by cardiac surgeon Lloyd Rudy in a YouTube Internet video. We describe pour process of following up exhaustively on all avenues of investigation available to us and our conclusion that this case is among the most evidential in which perceptions during an NDE were confirmed as completely accurate by objective observers.

Abstract: Near-death experiences (NDEs) have been recorded in the oral and written histories of virtually every culture since antiquity. Based on some of theses accounts, attempts have been made to investigate whether the phenomenology of the NDE is cross-culturally variable or similar. The present article contributes to this literature by analyzing the only known historical account of an NDE reported by a Maori individual. Although this account has been previously analyzed for its association with features typically reported in Western NDE accounts, it has been analyzed for its conformity to prevailing Maori beliefs about the afterlife. The analysis of this single case study suggests the NDE was influenced by cultural beliefs, which supports two converging viewpoint: that NDE phenomenology is universal but expressed in culturally-relative ways and that NDE phenomenology is culture-bound.

Abstract: Induced after-death communication (IADC) is a new psychotherapeutic procedure based on a variation of eye-movement desensitization and re-processing (EMDR). Psychologist Allan Botkin discovered it accidentally in 1995 while he was conducting therapy with combat veterans suffering from grief and post-traumatic stress disorder. During the course of the IADC treatment, Botkin's patients reported experiencing what they believed to be communications from a deceased person. The psychological healing associated with these experiences seemed remarkable. The following report presents the results of a survey Botkin conducted with other therapists he personally trained to conduct IADC. The results indicate that other IADC therapists achieved successful results nearly identical to those of Botkin and that the results were consistent across trained therapists.

Review of a book titled "Divine Moments: Ordinary People Having Spiritually Transformative Experiences" written by Nancy Clark.

Review of a book titled "The Last Frontier: Exploring the Afterlife and Transforming Our Fear of Death" written by Julia Assante.

Editorial statement introducing the contents of the journal issue and providing other relevant notes.