Community-based death preparation and education: A scoping review

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• End-of-Life Studies

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of community-level death preparation and education.
• Limited research exists on community-based interventions for end-of-life planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of literature on community-level death preparation and education.
• To identify effective methods and gaps in existing research.

Main Methods:

• A systematic scoping review was performed following PRISMA 2018 guidelines.
• Literature search across six databases for articles published between 2010 and 2020.

Main Results:

• Cultural, socioeconomic, and individual values significantly influence death preparation.
• Online courses and life-death education emerged as effective preparation strategies.
• Interventions need further investigation for population-specific effectiveness.

Conclusions:

• Community death preparation is influenced by diverse values.
• Online and educational approaches show potential for enhancing end-of-life readiness.
• Future research should focus on theory-based, mixed-methods studies for community-level interventions.