Checking Out checks in the first round of interviews

Posted by Admin on 17 September 2020

WCCEH research fellow Lorraine Hansford has been working on her project Checking Out since late last year, examining the concept of a “good death” in low-income families and communities, and how this can be achieved.

The original plans for Checking Out were amended following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lorraine has skilfully reconfigured her work into a COVID-compliant set of interviews with funeral directors, vicars and celebrants, welfare rights advisers in hospices and palliative care social workers in low-income communities which have proved fruitful and enlightening.

Lorraine is adding to this knowledge with another set of interviews, this time with individuals with lived experience of funeral poverty. The interviews are highlighting the myriad ways in which poverty impacts on people’s experiences at end of life, not just in terms of funeral poverty but in terms of accessing care, the accessibility of a ‘good death’ for those worrying about housing or money issues both for themselves and for the family they are leaving behind, and the impact on the grieving process.

Lorraine is still recruiting participants for the interviews regarding lived experience of funeral poverty – if you would be willing to talk about your experiences, please do contact her to participate in her research.