Social work and funeral service: a proposed framework for practice

Abstract

Funeral services are related to the vital interests of human beings and are supposed to meet people’s social, psychological and spiritual needs. More and more people from the funeral service industry have realized the importance of bringing helping professionals into the funeral service industry to fill in service gaps. Based on the Strategies and Skills Learning and Development system, a practice framework for funeral social work is proposed. The framework incorporates services in direct service, education and training, administrative management and research development. It targets families, relatives and other related people of the deceased, staff and management and local communities.