title: What families know about funeral-related costs: implications for social work practice.
abstract: Social workers provide essential services in the area of end-of-life care to individuals who are dying and their families. Results reported here suggest that social work's role be expanded to provide basic information about local final arrangement (funeral and burial) options and costs. This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge and experience level of people responsible for funeral and cemetery arrangements and to investigate factors affecting familiarity with final costs. Survey responses from 163 survivors of older adults in Kansas City showed that adult children play an important role in the final arrangements of a parent and that half the survivors responsible for final arrangements had no idea what to expect in terms of costs.
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City 66160-7117, USA. mbernklu@kumc.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bern-Klug
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Ekerdt
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005655:Funeral Rites; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D008923:Missouri; D012380:Role; D012947:Social Work; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000191:economics*