References
Before I Die: death positivity and the community nursing contribution
Abstract
This article explores the contextual backdrop of the death-positive movement that inspired the discussion group Before I Die: Worcestershire, along with the motivations behind its creation. It explores the balance between practical, planning discussions and open-ended talks held by the group, emphasising the importance of creativity when responding to the topics of death and dying. The collaborative efforts between Before I Die: Worcestershire and other groups and persons involved in the death-positive movement are also highlighted. This article considers the potential of grassroots community movements to engage people to make plans for their dying, regardless of circumstances and background. It argues that death-positive movements, projects and initiatives can be a valuable way for community nurses to engage with the population they serve.
In recent years, death-positive groups, such as The Order of the Good Death (2021), pioneered in the US by Caitlin Doughty, and the UK's Dying Matters (Hospice UK, 2021) and A Positive Death (2021), have made it their mission to begin national conversations about death and dying. Continuing the themes explored in Ernest Becker's 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning anthropological work, The Denial of Death, the death-positive movement aims to inspire frank and honest exchanges about death and dying that are inclusive, regardless of the religious, ethnic, gender or sexual identities of the participants. This is so that the culture of silence that exists around death might be broken.
The death-positive movement has also given rise to more open discussions about death in the general media—for example, the podcast Griefcast, hosted by Cariad Lloyd, and the annual Good Grief festival (2021), a virtual festival exploring the themes of love and loss. This is underpinned in academia by the work of John Troyer at the Centre for Death and Society (University of Bath, 2021).
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