Death Rituals and Funerals

Question 1

What is a culture?

Answer 1

A particular group and their customs, traditions, and ways to create meaning

Question 2

What is palliative care?

Answer 2

Care aiming to improve quality of life instead of quantity of life as someone nears death

Question 3

Issues for providers of palliative care

Answer 3

• Knowledge of what services are available
• Referral by professionals (eg. GP)
• Are S Asian families ‘looking after their own’?
• Hospices are often staffed by white British, Christian people
• Need for interpreters, communication
• Understanding particular needs/wishes

Question 4

What is the ASKED model of cultural competence?

Answer 4

• Have you ASKED yourself the right question:
  > Awareness (of one’s own background)
  > Skill (integrating knowledge in clinical practice)
  > Knowledge (about culturally diverse group)
  > Encounters (engaging in and reflecting on transcultural interactions)
  > Desire (motivation to engage)

Question 5

Why are funerals important?

Answer 5

• Symbolic of beliefs (what does the patient think will happen after death)
• Important role for dead person’s family
• Funerals are shaped by tradition
• Different rites even where religion is shared
• Traditions can be comforting

Question 6

What are death rituals?

Answer 6

Symbolic actions performed at or after death

Question 7

What are the aims of death rituals?

Answer 7

• Enable the dead to journey to the afterlife (if it is expected)
• Ensure the dead will be remembered
• Allow the living to say goodbye and move on
• Allow living to feel they have respected the dead
• Alleviate feelings of guilt for survivors
• Help acceptance by making death visible