Abstract
This is an exploratory study that aimed to find out the funeral arrangement preferences of Filipinos, to discern their thoughts and feelings on death-related aspects, and to generate awareness on funeral planning. A pretested open-ended questionnaire on funeral arrangement features generated 41 (37%) male and 69 (63%) female respondents aged 31 to 70 years with different professions (N = 110); 10 were interviewed. Participants’ preferences showed a blend of traditional (long vigils, mixed liturgical rites) and contemporary (rock concert, magic show, joyful music, lavish food, celebrate after cremation) modes of funerary arrangement. Forty-eight (44%) participants expressed negative thoughts and feelings such as chilly, creepy, depressed, eerie, fearful, gruesome, horrible, morbid, sad, scary, and weird. Twenty-eight (25%) participants appreciated the insights gained, their awareness of mortality, and funeral planning. Seventeen (15%) participants articulated concern for family. Recommendations to address the negative thoughts and emotions for different groups are presented.
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