The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI; Division 9 of the American Psychological Association [APA]; http://www.spssi.org) sponsored this two-day conference on end-of-life issues in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

The conference was designed to focus much-needed attention on psychosocial issues in end-of-life research, policy, and practice. In keeping with SPSSI's goals, this conference represented an opportunity to bring together a diverse and international group of theorists, researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers to work on improving how people deal with dying and death while also providing an opportunity to give mental health professionals and graduate students cutting-edge education about end-of-life issues.

The conference was coordinated by Drs. James L. Werth, Jr. (University of Akron), John R. Anderson (Director, APA's Office on AIDS), and Camille Preston (SPSSI's James Marshall Scholar, APA's Public Policy Office) and Dean Blevins (University of Akron). This initiative was designed to capitalize on the momentum resulting from APA's recent efforts to address end-of-life issues (http://www.apa.org/pi/aseolf.html). For more information please contact James Werth at jwerth@uakron.edu.