A new report from the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment’s Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW (CCNSW) has revealed that over 70 per cent of New South Wales’ citizens are not interested in planning ahead for funeral services.
The independent report Way to go: People’s views on burials, cremations, funerals and ways to commemorate life was conducted for CCNSW and published with an information tool-kit aimed at encouraging more people to plan funerals ahead of time to ease the burden on themselves and their families.
Chairman of CCNSW, Stepan Kerkyasharian said the research found only 29 per cent of people surveyed were inclined to proactively plan for funerals for either themselves or family members.
“Many were apprehensive or in denial about death and not comfortable talking about dying, have not thought about their funeral, and have never had to plan one for a relative,” Mr Kerkyasharian said.
“Unfortunately, if people only make end-of-life arrangements when someone has died or is ill and close to death it can put enormous emotional and financial strain on family members already under pressure at what is a very stressful time,” he said.
Mr Kerkyasharian said the research included an online survey with over 1,140 NSW residents as well as interviews and workshops with stakeholders across state and local government, cemetery, crematoria and funeral providers, faith representatives and consumer advocates.
“The research identified six categories of people when it comes to preparing for end-of-life with the ‘religion is important’ and ‘pragmatic and prepared’ groups most comfortable talking about and planning for death but representing only about 29 per cent of people in the survey,” he said.
“The rest of the groups identified included the ‘apprehensive or in denial’ group who represented the largest group; the ‘uninitiated’ who are least prepared and not thinking about end-of-life issues; the ‘not a priority’ group who have trouble acknowledging mortality; and the ‘easy going progressives’ who are happy to talk about death but do little planning and have little preference to what happens to their body once they die,” Mr Kerkyasharian said.
The CCNSW’s 18-page report can be accessed at this PS News link and its information toolkit at this link.
