Who will talk to me ? An exploratory case study on death and dying in a talking circle

Abstract

The aim of this exploratory study was to analyze, from the perspectives of the researcher, a conceptual model of communicative exchanges on death and dying and the conditions under which people talk about this salient subject. The researcher designed and implemented an interactive website on death and dying and conducted F2F interviews with 8 participants so as to identify major death and dying thematic elements in informal conversations. Using a mixed methods approach to decipher and assess potential visitor behaviors and themes online and an offline, results indicated substantial visitors to the website over a period of time but limited and almost non-existent visitor feedback or comments. In F2F conversations on death and dying seven major themes were identified: Best practices for living; what is a good death; what is a bad death; what death means; preparing for death; personal experiences with death; and, death is not the end.