Talking about death and dying: Findings from deliberative discussion groups with members of the public

Abstract

Talking about death and dying is promoted in UK health policy and practice, from a perception that to do so encourages people to plan for their end of life and so increase their likelihood of experiencing a good death. This encouragement occurs alongside a belief that members of the public are reluctant to talk about death, although surveys suggest this is not the case. This paper describes findings from a research study in which people participated in deliberative discussion groups during which they talked about a range of topics related to death, including talking about death, the good death, choice and planning and compassionate communities. Here we report what they had to say in relation to talking about death and dying. We identified three themes: 1. The difference between talking about death as an abstract concept and confronting the certainty of death, 2. how death and dying presents issues for planning and responsibility, and 3. approaches to normalising death within society. For our participants, planning was considered most appropriate in relation to wills and funerals, while dying was considered too unpredictable to be easy to plan for; they had complex ideas about the value of talking about death and dying. KEYWORDSDeliberative discussion groups; denial of death; normalising death talk; planning for death; talking about death and dying CONTACT

Middle-aged and older adults in Aids village: a mixed methods study on talking about death and well-being promotion based on social support theory

“…The idea that the public has an aversion to talking about death and dying, and that death remains a social ‘taboo’ has been vigorously promoted by a diverse range of social movements and interest groups since the 1960s. Nevertheless, then as now, there is little evidence to support these claims as attitudes to death and dying have not been extensively researched ( Wilson et al, 2022 ). What’s more, there were little research on the relationships between talking about death and subjective well-being among the middle-aged and older adults.…”

“…For example, nursing staff discussing the topic of death with the middle-aged and older adults and their families can provide them with spiritual comfort and psychological counseling, so that the middle-aged and older adults can correctly understand death and free themselves from fear (Chua and Shorey, 2021). Overall, prior findings suggest that the "taboo" against death talk may be more perceived than real (Wilson et al, 2022). We will review the literature on talking about death from five dimensions: the way of talking about death, the attitude toward talking about death, the objects of talking about death with, the frequency of talking about death and the content of the death talk.…”

“…On the contrary, the higher frequency of talking about death in daily life in normalizing death and bringing it into our “everyday” conversation, the stronger people feel they would be better equipped to deal with loss and fear of death more effectively. Because “talking” is recognized as a two-way interaction and people get more social support from others during more frequent two-way interactions ( Wilson et al, 2022 ). Therefore, the hypotheses are proposed:…”

Could Peer-Mentors Support Families of Care Home Residents to Prepare for Deterioration and End-of-Life? An Interview Study with Families and Care Home Staff

“…Participants suggested peer-mentors could provide both "practical" and "emotional" support to families. Tis phrasing has also been highlighted in previous research [13] which explored public attitudes to talking about death and dying and therefore may shed light on the ways the public understand their support needs around preparing for discussions and decisions about deterioration and the end-of-life. Although existing research has suggested that peer-support can be benefcial for family members who support a person living at home [26,[31][32][33], the fndings of the current study suggest that peer-mentors could also be benefcial to family members who support a relative living in a care home.…”

“…Families may not have a good understanding of their relative's wishes and preferences with regards to end-of-life care and treatment [10], which can lead to feelings of uncertainty [11] and experiences of stress, anger, regret, and guilt [12,13]. Family members may not know what to expect as their relative's condition deteriorates and, although willing, may be unprepared to be involved in decisions about end-of-life care.…”