i EXPLORING PEOPLE’S EXPERIENCES WITH CASKET BUILDING RELATED TO THE DEATH OF A LOVED ONE by Alice Winkel M.Ed., Simon Fraser University, 2007 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA April 2021 ©Alice Winkel, 2021 i Abstract Exploring the experiences of people who build a casket for a loved one is not clearly delineated in academic literature. This study focused on identifying and sharing the experiences of people who engaged in casket building for a loved one. The purpose of the research was to explore and interpret people’s experiences with casket building. Using an interpretive description approach and thematic data analysis, my research encompassed the experiences of four people who engaged in casket building for a loved one. Ultimately, four themes were generated: 1) A Desire for Something Different, 2) Influential Death Rituals, 3) The Importance of Relationships, and 4) Maintaining Wellness. The research supports those who may choose to follow in their footsteps. The study also encourages social workers to utilize practices, which some may consider non-traditional, to best meet the needs of the populations they serve. Key Words: Casket, Death Ritual, Grief, Social Work Practice. ii Acknowledgement I want to acknowledge my thesis supervisor Dr. Tammy Pearson for her encouragement and support to continue moving forward with my research even when other life experiences got in the way of my education. I would also like to thank Dr. Si Transken and Dr. Sarah de Leeuw for their willingness to sit on my committee and foster my learning. I would like to acknowledge each of the participants in this research study for their willingness to share their casket building experiences in open and sometimes raw stories related to their choice to lean into their grief. Thank-you for your willingness to share your experiences so that others can follow in your footsteps. iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my family. Each one of you has made sacrifices to allow me to move forward with my education, and I am eternally grateful for your unending support. I have been a student in post-secondary education for 24 years, and you have walked along side of me every step of the way. To my three children Emily, Kevin, and Shylah, I hope my dedication to lifelong learning has rubbed off on you and you continue to be curious and learn throughout your lifetime. Thank-you for cooking me food, listening to me rant, making me laugh, and taking care of each other when I was not there. Eric, my life partner, I am so very thankful for your ability to love me in my various forms over the last 27 years and always encouraging me to connect with the new person I am becoming. Mom, I watched you enter post-secondary education at 32 years of age and hit the ground running all the way to the finish line with your Ed.D. You have inspired me to continue becoming. Dad, thank you for working so hard to ensure I had everything I needed to be successful. My education is a gift from each of you. “My family is not perfect, but they made me who I am and gave me chances that they never had. My future, what ever it is, is our shared legacy” J.D. Vance iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Research Question and Objectives .................................................................................................. 3 Informing this Research .................................................................................................................. 3 Research Significance ..................................................................................................................... 5 Purpose of Research ........................................................................................................................ 7 Disciplinary Framework—Theoretical Location ............................................................................ 8 Key Concepts ................................................................................................................................ 10 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 16 Historical Perspectives of Death and Dying ................................................................................. 16 Contemporary Perspectives of Death and Dying .......................................................................... 17 The History of Caskets.................................................................................................................. 18 Death Rituals ................................................................................................................................. 21 Complex Grief and Posttraumatic Growth ................................................................................... 25 The Death-care Industry ............................................................................................................... 26 Capitalism, Craftivism, and Lifestyle Movements ....................................................................... 28 v The Death Positivity Movement ................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 3: Research Methodology ............................................................................................ 33 Research Design............................................................................................................................ 33 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 37 Ensuring Rigour ............................................................................................................................ 39 Sampling and Data Collection ...................................................................................................... 41 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................................. 45 Distribution of Study Results ........................................................................................................ 46 Limitations .................................................................................................................................... 47 Benefits ......................................................................................................................................... 47 Chapter 4: Research Findings ................................................................................................... 49 Theme One: A Desire for Something Different ............................................................................ 49 Theme Two: Influential Death Rituals ......................................................................................... 62 Theme Three: The Importance of Relationships .......................................................................... 84 Theme Four: Maintaining Wellness.............................................................................................. 91 Chapter 5: Discussion ................................................................................................................. 97 Research Connections ................................................................................................................... 97 Implications for Practice ............................................................................................................. 106 Areas of Future Research ............................................................................................................ 107 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 108 vi References .................................................................................................................................. 110 Appendices ................................................................................................................................. 120 Appendix A: Information and Consent Documents.................................................................... 120 Appendix B: Interview Questions ............................................................................................... 125 Appendix C: Tri Council Certificate.......................................................................................... 126 Appendix D: Research Ethics Board Approval Documents ....................................................... 127 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Many people in American society1 live their lives disconnected from the reality that death is an integral aspect of living (Erickson, 2017). The notion of disengagement from experiencing death as a normative experience is starkly different than the historical account provided by Kiernan (2006). Kiernan (2006) stated that at the start of the 1900s, engagement with death, in American Society, was a part of the normative experience, where the sick and dying received care from loved ones at home. When people passed away, bodies were tended to in homes and communities rallied around grieving families through visitation and gatherings. Since multiple generations often lived under one roof, children were exposed to experiences with death and dying from a young age, which allowed death to be perceived as a normative experience (Kiernan, 2006). There is a glaring difference between the disconnect from death that Erickson (2017) writes about in current American society and the historical connections to death as a recognized aspect of life described by Kiernan (2006). According to Health Canada (2018), the Canadian medical system provides end-of-life care for palliative patients, and Kopp and Kemp (2007) discuss how the death care industry offers body care after death. As a result, those who are dying, and their loved ones, are typically connected to a medical system and death-based industries who escort them through a prescribed system of death care, typically overseen and directed by professionals. Olsen (2016) addresses the way that, during the industrial revolution in America, responsibility for death care was transferred from family members and loved ones to professionals. During this time (the late 19th and 20th century) in history, death care transitioned from a home-based process, which was often the responsibility of women, to industrialized services. The removal of death care from the 1 For more discussion related to the term “American Society” please see key concepts on Page 10. 2 homes to industrialized settings created a gap in the development of intimate knowledge related to coping with death and the experience of grief. Given that traditional roles of caring for the deceased have been removed from people’s experiences and managed by professionals, Olson (2006) speaks to a current sense of denial associated with the reality of death in American society. Chapter 1 of this study is comprised of my personal experiences and disciplinary knowledge related to the applied practice of social work in supporting individuals coping with the death of a loved one. The chapter covers the purpose and significance of my research, the disciplinary framework/theoretical location that guided my study, and the key concepts. Chapter 2 encompasses a literature review of topics related to the historical and contemporary perspectives of death and dying, the history of caskets, death rituals, complex grief and post traumatic growth, the death care industry, capitalism craftivism, and lifestyle movements, and the death positive movement. Chapter 3 reviews the research methodology and methods that were utilized in conducting this study. Chapter 4 depicts the findings related to the data collection and includes the four themes: a desire for something different, influential death rituals, the importance of relationships, and maintaining wellness. Chapter 5 includes a discussion of the themes listed in the findings section of the study, as well as implications for practice, areas of future research, and a conclusion. 3 Research Question and Objectives My research question was “What are the experiences of people who have built a casket for a loved one?” The main objectives of the research were: 1) To provide people who have built caskets for a loved one an opportunity to share their experiences with others. 2) To understand the ways building caskets for loved ones created resilience and/or barriers for those experiencing grief. 3) To understand how casket building can be implemented in social work practice as a tool for individuals who are experiencing grief. Informing this Research In terms of research, Neumann and Neumann (2015) state, “Being situated means being mindful or aware of the relationship between oneself and one’s context” (p. 799). Understanding the perspective from which a researcher approached their study is integral to creating research authenticity; additionally, providing the researcher’s positions allows the reader to understand the viewpoints from which the researcher approaches the study (Thorne, 2016). As such, it is important to understand how I came to possess an interest in the knowledge of the ways casket building impacts people’s experiences with death, grief, and loss. As a child, I was sheltered from the processes of death. I was viewed as deficient in having the coping skills necessary to experience exposure to death. When my pets died, I was always protected from the experience of seeing the animals post death. When loved ones died, I was not allowed to attend the graveyard during and after the burial. On the other hand, my brother was not shielded from death in the same manner. I believe I was isolated from experiences with death 4 because I was a cis gendered female, and I was perceived as being more sensitive than my cis gendered male sibling. I believe that my limited experiences with death and dying as a child had a significant impact on my perceptions of what it would be like to experience the death of a loved one as an adult. In particular, these limited experiences caused me to feel unprepared to hold responsibility for the care and disposition of the bodies of my loved ones. Several years ago, my family began our journey of palliative care with my elderly in laws, Mary and Les Winkel. Les was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2011. In 2015, Les was placed in long-term care, and Mary suffered a series of strokes. As a social work student, I developed a strong desire to ensure their requests related to death and dying were respected. Mary moved into our home; and in the spring of 2016, she suffered a catastrophic stroke resulting in her death. We suddenly found ourselves overwhelmed with grief and loss alongside a lack of knowing what to do, how to honour Mary, or how to integrate our experience with death into our family in ways that continued to build resiliency. It was the advice and recommendation from a hospital social worker that prompted our family to build a casket. Hence, we borrowed some tools, visited the local hardware store, and built a simple casket. The act of working on the casket brought our family together, encouraged us to talk, provided time for silent reflection in action, and made us feel useful at a time where it would have been easy to fall into despair. In essence, casket building changed our narrative around death and dying. Les died 75 days after Mary and our family found comfort in knowing the process. It was heartwarming to witness our teenage children take on the work of casket building, as they had previous experience. Through the act of casket building, we found connections to our broader community, engaged in meaningful discourse around death and dying, and established comfort in possessing a new way of knowing that led to a feeling of competence. 5 Through my personal and educational experience, I have noticed individuals wanting to create greater ability to understand and cope with the ways death and dying impact modern-day existence. I have read about the provision of death doula services (where people hire someone to assist them with the process of death), have engaged in the creation and delivery of a death café (where people come together to talk about death in a group setting), have listened to stories of those who have participated in home funerals (where bodies are brought home), and have participated in the building of caskets for loved ones. Each of these experiences fostered my desire to explore the topic of casket building as they broadened my perspective of how people develop resiliency in coping with loss as well as how social workers may engage with clients experiencing grief. I believe that as people choose to engage with death and grief outside of the death care system, they are shifting the death paradigm away from an industrialized medical model. While some people choose more holistic engagement with the loss of their loved one—they may not be aware of their resistance to industrialised medical models of death care, but it is possible that this resistance may be an unintentional outcome for others. However, I believe that people who engage in more holistic death-related activities, such as casket building, are creating greater understanding of dying and its impact on our modern-day existence. Research Significance Social workers engage in a diverse field of practice and participate in work with marginalized members of society in varied capacities that include an array of social issues such as poverty, racism, child abuse, women’s rights, and advocating for positive social change (Canadian Association of Social Workers, What is Social Work, 2020). Healthcare systems rely upon the varied skill sets of social workers to support patients and their families as they 6 transition through the medical system. According to the Canadian Association of Social Workers (2020), Social work is a diverse profession working in many of the health and social sectors included in a primary health care approach. Across all these sectors, social work has always maintained a strong “person in environment” approach to working with individuals, families, groups, and communities. By working within the framework of the determinants of health, social workers make the necessary links between the physical, social, emotional, and economic impacts of health (Social Work and Primary Health Care). This means many social workers are supporting people as they experience death and/or the subsequent grief that follows the loss of a loved one. The role of supporting individuals coping with death and loss fits well with the practice of social workers, as grief is often poorly understood by society. Therefore, those who are coming to terms with loss related to death are often left feeling marginalized. According to Harris (2010), models of grief in western society2 are based on economics where grief has an expiration date set by the demands of industries. These industries limit time away from work to deal with death and expect workers to return, after the allotted leave, without reduced productivity related to grief. This limited and date-set perspective of when bereavement should end may catapult people into feelings of shame for not meeting societal standards of recovery after the loss of a significant person. Additionally, Harris (2010) suggests that death and grief should be seen as normative aspects of living resulting from humanist connections created with other living beings. 2 For more discussion related to the term “Western Society” please see key concepts on Page 13. 7 The work of building caskets for loved ones may assist people in engaging with death from the perspective that death and dying are normative experiences, and thus may assist people in the grieving process. Research that explores the experiences of people who have built caskets for loved ones will contribute to the field of social work by developing further knowledge on the impacts of such casket-building on grief experiences. Assisting others who are learning to cope with grief is no easy feat. However, I know with certainty that we all face our own mortality, and both the individuals who are dying and the ones who are grieving require care. Consequently, someone must be willing to wade into the dark corners of mortality to bridge the experiences between the helplessness people feel related to death and the reality that death is part of the normative human experience. The bridging between people experiencing grief and those living distanced from the notion of death is the type of work that the profession of social work thoroughly understands. Hobart (2008) discusses the increasing role social workers play in assisting clients with decision making related to end-of-life care and to death. Furthermore, Hobart (2008) believes that as society faces an aging population, there will be an increase in demand for social workers in the medical field to assist clients with death and dying. Purpose of Research The goal of my research was to explore and interpret people’s experiences with casket building for a loved one to inform the practice of social work when assisting clients who are struggling with grief and loss after the death of a loved one. My research focused on the experiences of individuals who built caskets for a loved one and the impact of that process on their experiences with death and grief. Individuals who have engaged in casket building provide 8 unique information related to the ways the process of casket building impacts the experiences of those coping with the death of a loved one. Disciplinary Framework—Theoretical Location As Strauss and Corbin (1990) indicate, “Some areas of study naturally lend themselves more to qualitative types of research; for instance, research that attempts to uncover the nature of a person’s experience with a phenomenon” (p.19). Furthermore, qualitative research is evolutionary and has changed over time as researchers have sought to better understand the phenomena of the world that surrounds them. Thorne (2014) states that foundational forms of qualitative research, including grounded theory, ethnography, and phenomenology, require the researcher to establish a theoretical framework forming a lens through which all aspects of the study will be viewed. Accordingly, Thorne (2008) discusses how these foundational forms of qualitative research were developed in the area of social sciences where research is often grounded in theory rather than practical application and praxis. Thorne (2008) explains how Interpretive Description (ID) is structured in relation to informing the practice of those in the allied health fields through exploration of clinical questions. Thorne (2014) describes ID as a qualitative research methodology born out of a necessity to engage in research not constrained by prescriptive theoretical frameworks pre-data collection, but rather one that allows for epistemological flow between practice in the field and research findings. Thorne et al. (2016) speak to the ways foundational forms of qualitative research encourage nursing researchers to theoretically frame their research in ways that do not mesh with outcomes related to practice; ID allows researchers to move away from a theoretical framework and explore data outcomes from an epistemological perspective. Viewing this research from a 9 Social Work epistemology was key; after all, the goal was to situate the research in the context of social work practice. Hunt (2009) highlights the way, ID acknowledges the theoretical and practical knowledge that researchers bring to a project. The researcher’s foreknowledge of the phenomenon under study is considered to be a platform on which to design the project and helps to establish its anticipated boundaries (p. 1285). My theoretical orientation was informed by my experiences with casket building. My experiences with casket building were fostered through contact with a professional social worker practicing in the medical model during the loss of a loved one. As such, my interest in this research stemmed from the clinical recommendation of a social worker. My engagement in casket building coupled with my personal life experiences related to my journey with grief and loss were instrumental in my research study. Furthermore, I wanted to contribute to the practical application of social work approaches of coping in the face of bereavement. Thorne et al. (2016) assert that the “intellectual underpinnings of an applied discipline can provide an effective framework where qualitative technique can be aligned” (p.452). Comparatively, Hare (2004) discuses social work as an applied discipline, Social work in its various forms addresses the multiple, complex transactions between people and their environments. Its mission is to enable all people to develop their full potential, enrich their lives and prevent dysfunction. Professional social work is focused on problem-solving and change. As such, social workers are change agents in society and in the lives of the individuals, families, and the communities they serve. Social work is an interrelated system of values, theory, and practice (p. 419). 10 During my academic degree, I studied the impact of grief on individuals and the interventions implemented to aid in the management of bereavement. There were concrete connections between my experiences with sorrow and casket building that could inform the practice of social work. In particular, when social work practitioners are engaged with clients who are grieving the loss of a loved one. My personal experience combined with an aspiration to practice in the profession of social work were driving factors for my engagement in this research topic. Key Concepts While performing a literature review for this research study, I developed a list of key definitions. It is important for readers to clearly understand the meaning and intent of the usage of these terms, as they are integral to the study. The fundamental concepts I have identified are foundational to my research and are listed below. American Society: Dictonary.com (2021) defines a society as, a highly structured system of human organization for large scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security, and national identity for its members: American society.” For the purpose of this study, the term, American Society, refers to the society of people who inhabit the United States of America. Referring to a massive population under the context that they belong to a generic grouping of people is problematic, and yet research has not caught up to the current day understanding that the term, “American Society” fails to recognise the experiences of those who belong to diverse populations and whose life experiences will never be encompassed by the onesize-fits-all term “American Society. 11 The term American Society, in this research study, has only been utilized when quoting or paraphrasing the academic work of others. Coffin: “a box or casket for burying a corpse” (Dictionary.com, 2020). For the purpose of this research project, the terms coffin and casket will be interchangeable. Coffins can be made from a variety of materials such as cardboard, metal, wicker, and wood. Death Care: “Of, referring to, or providing products or services for the burial or cremation of the dead” (Merriam-Webster, 2020). Death Ritual: Reeves (2011) defines a death ritual as, as a ceremony, directly involving at least one person and the symbols of the loss and usually, directly and indirectly involving others. The ritual involves heightened meaning and emotion and is often experienced as spiritual. It is focused around a specific situation or event and involves out of the ordinary activities” (p.409). This definition will describe the term death ritual for the purpose of this study. Funeral: “The observances held for a dead person usually before burial or cremation” (MerriamWebster, 2020). Grave Goods: Grave goods may include items which were possessions of the deceased, or they might be mourners’ gifts to the dead. They may serve to equip the dead body for the world of the afterlife, or to prevent the dead coming back to haunt the living. Grave goods may be selected to serve as reminders of a person’s deeds or character (Pearson, 1999, in Harper, 2012 p. 45). For the purpose of this research, grave goods are items placed in caskets that form connections between the living and the dead. Grief: Many different terms are interchangeable with grief. For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders Edition Five (DSM-V) uses the word bereavement to 12 describe what many people would feel as grief. According to the DSM-V, uncomplicated bereavement occurs “…when the focus of clinical attention is a normal reaction to the death of a loved one…The duration and expression of “normal” bereavement varies considerably among different cultural groups” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 716). For the purpose of this study, grief will be defined through a social constructivist approach, articulated by Neimeyer et al. (2014): Grieving is best understood as a frequently impassioned interpretive activity that strives to (a) find meaning in the death; (b) reaffirm or reconstruct a self-narrative perturbed by loss; (c) negotiate the shared transition with others in the family and community; (d) renegotiate, and typically retain, a continuing bond with the deceased in emotional, symbolic and memorial terms; (e) recruit support in these efforts by recourse to durable discursive resources of a more public kind, both in the oral and written traditions of a given time and place; and (f) conform to, or actively resist, the dominant cultural narratives that script the ‘‘proper’’ performance of grief in a manner coherent with the prevailing social order (p. 496). Medical Model: When referring to the medical model in this study, it is understood to be the same as the allopathic medical model described below. Lowenburg (1989, as cited in Fawcette. 2017) is paraphrased to provide a definition of the Medical Model, …discussion of the allopathic medical model highlights at least some characteristics of what many people think about when referring to the medical model. The primary characteristic of the allopathic medical model is regarding human beings as objects made up of categorical systems. The patient-physician relationship is hierarchical, with the physician making decisions for the relatively passive patient (p.30). 13 Resilience: Bonanno (2004) defines resilience as the ability of adults in otherwise normal circumstances who are exposed to an isolated and potentially highly disruptive event, such as the death of a close relation or a violent or lifethreatening situation, to maintain relatively stable, healthy levels of psychological and physical functioning (p. 20). Furthermore, The Social Work Dictionary defines resiliency as “the human capacity (individual, group, and/or community) to deal with crisis, stressors, and normal experiences in an emotionally and physically healthy way; an effective coping style” (Barker, 2014, p. 365). Resiliency and wellbeing are intertwined. A person cannot display resiliency without also having a sense of wellbeing. The term “wellbeing” can be problematic to define as every individual person, group, community, or culture, may have its own definition of wellbeing. Dodge et al. (2012) speak to the understanding of wellbeing (a term that has been explored since the time of Aristotle) and the need for a simple universal understanding of the terminology. Through research, they created a new definition of wellbeing that is situated in the balance between a person’s resources and challenges. When a person’s challenges become greater than their ability to cope, their sense of wellbeing starts to shift from positive to negative. For the purpose of this study, resilience will be defined as a person’s ability to maintain wellbeing in the face of highly disruptive events, such as the loss of a loved one. Posttraumatic Growth: Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004) define posttraumatic growth as, ‘‘positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances’’ (p. 1). This definition will form the usage of the term posttraumatic growth for the purpose of this research project. 14 Western Society: For the purpose of this study the term Western society, It is neither a deliberate attempt to ignore established minority communities within Western society or ignore their economic, legal, and political differences. Rather, the explicit reference to Western society is only one example of a ‘general’ and not (‘total’) definition. It includes tracing it to ancient Greece, and Rome; reflects prevailing Judaism and Christian values, beliefs, practices, and influences. Includes countries with a history of European migration; is based on principles of rationalism, empiricism, political pluralism, and individualism; and recognises global differences as well as intersociety cultural variations based on Judaeo-Christian beliefs. The understanding of Western society, as used in this study, is based on historical connections between ancient communities or civilisations with systems of knowledge and thought that reflect these principals, linked also by patterns of movement that are linked to current practices. Our definition of Western society is thus one of ‘general’ rather than ‘total’ understanding (Knifton, 2019, pp. 7-8). Like the term “American Society”, “Western society” is only utilized in this research study in relation to citing academic work of others. Summary My personal experiences as a client who received social work services within the health care system are combined with my community and educational experiences. I was encouraged to explore people’s experiences with casket building to find ways casket building intersects with social work practice in settings where clients are experiencing grief from the death of a loved one. I engaged in interviews with four people who had experience with building caskets post the 15 death of a loved one. I utilized interpretive description which was situated in the epistemology of social work discipline. Chapter 2 provides a review of the literature as it relates to the concepts associated with the experiences of death. The topics outlined in Chapter 2 include historical and contemporary perspectives on death and dying, the history of caskets, death rituals, complex grief and post traumatic growth, the death care industry, and the death positivity movement. 16 Chapter 2: Literature Review Historical Perspectives of Death and Dying Olson (2016) writes about how medicalization, industrialization, and modernization have impacted practices related to caring for the dead and dying in America. Historically, women cared for bodies in times of illness, childbirth, and death. Then as the American Civil War3 and the medical model 4 took hold, care for the dying (as well as care for those who were birthing) shifted from the everyday work of women to the work of the healthcare system. As American society moved into industrialization and World War I, death rituals were taken over as men’s occupation and shifted to undertakers and mortuaries. Olson (2016) indicates that this move from death care as work of women to that of men also happened in Hindu, Cantonese, British, and French societies. Additionally, Olson (2016) discusses how American industrialization brought about the modern-day, long-term care and funeral homes that have modernized care for terminally ill patients and their bodies after death. Devoid of discussion related to non-European settler populations, Poulter (2011) reiterates that pre-World War II death practices in Canada were community-based. Upon death, women or midwives would come to a home and dress the body; the body would sit in the home for visitation; local woodworkers would build the casket; and the funeral would take place in the chosen church. Interestingly, Poulter, (2011) indicates that communities often organized this work without someone having to arrange what was going to happen. When death occurred in a community, people stepped in and were involved in the work that needed to be completed to support the family, and the family completed the necessary tasks for the burial, 3 4 The American Civil war lasted from 1861-1865 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021). For more discussion related to the term “medical model” please see key terms on Page 12. 17 In the early 1900s, death was an integrated part of living. Children experienced death in their homes and in the broader community as they accompanied their parents. This participation created a certain intimate knowledge of what death meant, what it looked like, and how people experienced it. Gellie et al. (2015) suggest that during this time, people lived a life more intricately connected with death and that death was an expected aspect of living. From this perspective, people may have been more prepared to cope with the loss of a loved one as death was simply seen as an aspect of living. Furthermore, the authors suggest that people were better equipped to cope with death as they had a realistic understanding of death, engaged in caring for people as they died, and understood the social expectations of loved ones after a death occurred. Contemporary Perspectives of Death and Dying As people’s lives became more industrialised, the transfer of what was once domestic work became more commercialized. Sanders (2010) discusses the way American ceremonies honouring the deceased have become reduplicated and sold as commodity—funeral homes sell packaged funerals that corporations have designed for mass consumption. While many historical aspects of death care have carried forward into this industrialised process—preparation of burial ground, body care, creation of a container for the body (caskets or urns), and dissemination of a funeral service—these facets of the death-care industry have become commodities each with a price tag attached to them. Sanders (2010) believes that death care in America, once performed by family and community, are now services rendered with fees attached, thus creating a manufactured commodity of death care. Poulter (2011) talks about the ways funeral homes in Nova Scotia use terms such as “traditional” to sell funeral packages that include caskets, embalming of bodies, and funeral services; and yet, he shows that there are very few connections between the modern day 18 “traditional” funeral choice and experiences with the type of death care that existed in the early 1900s. Poulter (2011) believes that it is possible, the word “traditional” becomes enmeshed with the desire to provide respectful sacred rights to the dead such as transportation of the body, washing the body, embalming, dressing and positioning the body in the casket . Gellie et al. (2015) describe how people living in developed countries with access to modern medicine have become separated from experiences with death. The authors believe that generalized increased life expectancy in developed countries has encouraged a view of death as something people can avoid. Furthermore, Gellie et al. (2015) state that before the industrial revolution, death looked much different because it happened in people’s homes where people lived more closely connected to community. Death in those historical circumstances was witnessed on a more frequent basis and by people at younger ages. Today, those living in developed countries in non-marginalized populations often expect to live longer lives where death is held at bay from access to high standards of living and modern medicine. Gellie et al. (2015) believe this disconnect from death and dying in developed countries has limited people’s ability to accept death as part of the experience of living. The History of Caskets The progression and history of casket development is far reaching and complex. A comprehensive literature review of the development of the casket is beyond the scope of this literature review. However, a rudimentary explanation of the history of the casket and its progression to North America will be helpful to situate the context of the experiences of research participants in this study. Van Walsem (2014) brings care of the dead back to prehistoric times, where the first people utilized animal skins and basic textiles to protect themselves from the elements. They also 19 wrapped their dead in shrouds of animal skins or textiles with the similar intent of protecting them from the elements. From this perspective, humans have been caring for the bodies of their dead for millions of years. In progression, van Walsem (2014) situates the development of wooden walls in burial pits as the next progression to the development of caskets. Then, in the first Egyptian dynasty, van Walsem (2014), states there is evidence of the first free-standing coffin utilized to house and transport an individual body. As these first caskets (made of paper, wood, and clay) made their way into Egyptian culture, they took on the form and shape of the body of the deceased. Van Walsem (2014) writes, “… coffin architecture’ in its earliest phase manifested itself in an anthropoid shape.” (p.3). Therefore, the inception of caskets can be linked back to the first dynasty of Egyptian society. The ancient Romans built stone sarcophaguses, which were like stone caskets, with lids that were frequently created as monuments to the deceased. These stone sarcophaguses were used for inhumation (burial) of bodies. Sorabella (2001) discusses the intricacy of sarcophaguses during the Roman Empire, describing them as ornate and often containing images related to Greek mythology. Furthermore, the sarcophaguses often carried the names of families, the name of the deceased, and dates of death. Sorabella (2011) states that the sarcophaguses were often made of granite and may have contained information about who indentured the building of the box as it was typically a tribute to someone, they deemed important. Sorabella (2011) likens the types of Greek mythology carved into sarcophaguses in ancient Rome to childish fairy tales meant to help the deceased sleep pleasantly in their death. By the 1700s coffins were used for the majority of deceased regardless of social standing. Tharp (1996) discusses how English death practices moved from the use of winding sheets, a fabric binding used to wrap the deceased for inhumation, to the use of caskets due to the 20 influence of Christianity’s attempts to “incorporate death into the daily life” (p.34). Tharp (1996), states that with Christianity came the promise of resurrection and reunification of the body and soul in afterlife. Therefore, the funeral was conducted to save the soul and the casket was utilized to preserve the body. Tharp (1996) asserts that many cultures and belief systems have adopted the use of caskets outside Christianity and that eventually as the church moved away from some of the rituals of death they previously held, cultural systems began to drive the utilization of caskets. As the casket was utilized through history, Tharp (1996) states that it underwent secularization, allowing for civil and commercial forces to slowly take over regulation of burial from the church. Tharp (1996) discusses how caskets became part of governmental systems related to coping with mass levels of death in New England in the 1700s. As America was colonized, the practices of the colonizers (the English)5 became enmeshed in government regulated activities, including the burial of the dead. Tharp (1996) indicates that caskets did not evolve much in the 1700s and early 1800s. They were typically wooden boxes with six or eight sides, made out of wood with a flat top. In the mid 1700s, he indicates that caskets more frequently included hardware such as handles and screws. However, most caskets were plainly adorned simple wooden boxes. According to Tharp (1991), it was also during this time that coffins became commercialized and were reproduced to be purchased ready made at the time of death. Beard and Burger (2017) discuss the ways the industrial revolution and American Civil War impacted how Americans cared for their dead. They outline the way the industrial revolution brought about the capacity to mass produce caskets and discussed how the American Civil War created a need for those caskets. It was during this time that caskets morphed from While others such as the Dutch, Spanish, and French colonized America, Tharp’s paper focused on the English. 5 21 small scale local or familial fabrications to products of large-scale mass production. Thus, taking the making of caskets from a familial or local process of the bereaved and their community to a large-scale market where the majority of consumers today purchase caskets for loved ones after their death. Death Rituals Roberson et al. (2018) speak to the way death rituals honour the life of loved ones lost, yet the functional purpose of death rituals is typically to support the people left behind. They note that death rituals differ according to a person’s religious affiliation, spirituality, culture, or community. These rituals typically involve social support, symbolization, ceremony, and food. Luddeckens (2018) states, Death deprives humans of agency insofar as death can be brought about, but only to some extent prevented. Given the modern demand of people being able to take responsibility, to be active, and to be able to change their circumstances, death means experiencing the loss of the capacity to act. Rituals offer the opportunity to regain agency in the face of death as participants deal with death through action. Thereby, helplessness in the face of death can be confronted and ‘being active’ can reassure the living of their viability. (p. 109) While religion or spirituality is often linked with funeral services, it is not necessarily the aspect of the ceremony that people find the most comfort in. O’rouke et al. (2001) determined that the way people chose to participate in funerals impacted their overall feelings of satisfaction. The intimate nature of the participation in relation to the death, such as dressing of the body, had little impact on the participants’ overall feelings of satisfaction with the event. However, they 22 found that the opportunity to genuinely engage socially with others who were grieving the same loss resulted in the highest level of satisfaction in funeral attendees. Ramshaw (2010) agrees that connection to others who are suffering the same loss is important to modern day mourners. However, Ramshaw (2010) adds to the discussion of meaning-making in ritual related to death through recognising the importance of personalization. In contemporary American culture, Ramshaw (2010) believes many death rituals no longer hold meaning to the masses because there is limited collective practice of them. Instead, rather than finding comfort in repetitiveness of rituals of the past, many mourners find comfort in recognising aspects of the deceased’s personality in more modernized death rituals. Ramshaw (2010) equates this seeking of personalization to the contemporary tendency of focusing on the private and the self rather than the collective and the community. One-way Ramshaw (2010) encourages personalization of death rituals is to include opportunity for storytelling. These stories provide opportunity for those mourning the loss of a loved one to create narratives that they can carry forward to help keep the memories of their deceased close, as they move forward with their lives. Romanoff and Terenzio (1998) discuss the importance of grief rituals that support the experiences of those experiencing grief and loss. Romanoff and Terenzio (1998) make connections to show that ritual exists both inside and outside religion and assists individuals in maintaining stability while undergoing change, particularly when people are facing turmoil. They believe that American grief rituals are often focused on letting go or saying goodbye to loved ones who have died, when in reality many people mourning the loss of a loved actually need to find ways to stay connected to those who are deceased. Ultimately, Romanoff and Terenzio (1998) state that disenfranchised grief is connected to the American view of getting 23 back to normal after the death of a loved one instead of learning to restructure life around the loss and re-frame ways of living a life impacted by the death of a loved one. Romanoff and Terezio (1998) note that death rituals related to transformation, transition, and connection assist in the resolution of grief. They reiterate that these rituals must recognise the change in relationship with the deceased from physical to one based on memory and meaning. Similar to Luddeckens (2018), Norton and Francesca (2014) discuss the ways that grief coincides with feelings of lack of control. Their study related to the abilities of grief rituals to impact people’s experiences with grief and showed that grief rituals are effective in reducing feelings of grief. The results of their study suggest that death rituals do not need to be ornate or public to be effective, that people may effectively utilize a variety of diverse rituals, and that referring to the activity as a ritual enhanced its effectiveness. While Norton and Francesca (2014) did not find particular actions to be more effective than others, they believe that, in general, aspects of engaging in rituals around death encourage a sense of control over the experience making people feel like there is something that they can do that will positively impact their grief. In reviewing death rituals, Harper (2012) places great importance on grave goods (items) placed in the caskets of the deceased as part of contemporary British and American death rituals. These items are typically chosen to be placed in the casket by those mourning the deceased because they are identified as objects that reflect the personality and individualism of the deceased. Furthermore, there are often ties between the items and the ways the mourners interacted with the deceased. Harper (2012) speaks to the ways items placed with bodies in death are often connected to the afterlife, where their loved ones feel some connection to the deceased taking the object, or action connected to object, into the afterlife with them. One example Harper (2012) wrote about included placing a cigarette in a loved one’s pocked because he was going to 24 want a smoke, wherever he was going (p. 56). Harper (2012) discusses how ownership of possessions and identity can become enmeshed in perceived understanding of who a person was, and that while the inclusion of grave goods is not always well understood, it is an aspect of postmortem rituals that is worthy of further research and discussion in relation to British and American death rituals. Death Denying Culture For many people, the thought of death brings about a distinct sense of fear. Becker (1973) and Solomon et al. (2004) discuss the ways people manage this fear of death by focusing on the world that is created around them in order to develop a sense that their existence is significant. They believe that this happens through the creation of an ordered human world with attachment to culture, relationships, religion, and other ways to find personal meaning. These attachments serve as a distraction from exploring a mortal existence. Becker (1973) believes that the human body is what brings humans back to the struggle between the world they create meaning in and the fact that they are mortal and thus will one day face their own demise. According to Laderman (2000), popular culture and media has played a role in encouraging Americans to deny and fear death. Additionally, Bartlett and Riches (2007) believe that denial of death is supported by funeral homes where bodies are removed from the sight of family members after death and prepared for burial. They believe that death denial is encouraged by the way bodies are whisked away from loved ones and swiftly made to look alive again by utilizing a plethora of death-care related skills such as embalming. Harvey (2001) creates a direct link between the role of the nurse in post-mortem body care speaking to the transition between care of the living body and care of the dead that often happens in medical settings after death occurs. Harvey (2001) clearly articulates that this body 25 care is done from the perspective, not of the nurse supporting the undertaker who will possibly prepare the body for visitation, but from the perspective of supporting the family with the assumption that every family will wish for the body of their loved one to be structured for viewing by a funeral home. Bartlett and Riches (2007) state, “Funeral workers protect families from the reality that death inevitably involves decomposition” (p. 242). Furthermore, Bartlett and Riches (2007) discuss the way funeral home employees experience the grim realities of death in their experiences of providing post-mortem body care and that the efforts they make to hide this reality from loved ones causes workplace stress. Complex Grief and Posttraumatic Growth Kliem et al. (2018) define prolonged grief through what they call a cultural context where complicated grief is experienced when grief exists beyond a person’s normative cultural and religious perspectives. This definition means that prolonged grief only exists if it is incongruent with cultural norms in extent or severity. Therefore, allowing for the understanding and acceptance of cultural norms will have a direct impact on the ways people grieve. Shear (2015) describes the characteristics of complicated grief as persistent, intense, yearning, longing, and sadness that are directly connected to ruminations related to the deceased. She indicates that those struggling with complex grief often have strong feelings of anger or guilt related to the way the deceased died. With positive outcomes, Nam (2017) studied the effectiveness of restoration coping as a therapy for complicated grief in older adults. This type of therapy includes both recognising and processing loss as well as developing self-care techniques. The therapy involves promotion and development of client skills in self-sufficiency and personal growth. Developing this sense of autonomy could also provide resiliency and limit experiences of complex grief. Nam’s (2017) 26 research shows that assisting clients in developing skills that create self-reliance may be a significant factor in reduction of complex grief. Calhoun et al. (2010) discuss posttraumatic growth in circumstances of grief. They discuss ways the loss of a loved one can be an extraordinarily stressful event, interrupting a person’s belief systems about how the world works. Through this disruption, the griever often has to learn to re-structure their lives to find meaning beyond the loss. It is in the process of re-establishing one’s life in absence of a loved one that creates the potential for re-growth and the development of further understanding of grief and loss that can result in posttraumatic growth. Hogan and Schmidt (2002) recognise that loss can create growth and explore the manner in which knowledge clashes with theories related to helping people struggling with grief to return to a sense of normalcy. The experiences of many people tell us that people change both negatively and positively from grief. Hogan and Schmidt (2002) believe that ignoring this change and encouraging people experiencing grief to return to a sense of normalcy minimizes the restructuring that occurs after loss. Not recognising the positive aspects of growth that may come from grief stops clients from recognising the constructive parts of their experiences. Hogan and Schmidt (2002) emphasised that social support is integral to the positive re-construction of life after the experience of grief and loss, as the restructuring does not happen in isolation from social constructs. The Death-care Industry Statistics Canada reports that the average cost of a funeral, in Canada, is between $5,000 and $15,000 (Poulter, 2011). While the death-care industry is tasked with supporting the bereaved, caring for the dead, and the disposition of bodies, it is also clear that the death-care industry profits from the sale of goods and services related to these tasks. The Canadian funeral industry is a lucrative business that encourages the bereaved to turn over the care of their dead to 27 big business that make hefty profits (Audebrand & Barros, 2018). In so far as the funeral industry cares for the dead, it also has a responsibility to the bereaved. Gentry et al. (1995) explain how grief creates a temporary vulnerability in those who are experiencing it. Grief creates difficulties related to reasoning, which leads to a state of vulnerability as people move through the death care system. Gentry et al. (1995) suggest that this vulnerability makes it easy for death care consumers to be victimised in consumer transactions related to the death of their loved one. They feel that this vulnerability needs to be recognized and grieving consumers need to be protected in the marketplace as they purchase products related to caring for their dead (Gentry et al. 1995). According to Heimbecker (1995), the death-care industry is regulated in Canada at both the provincial and federal levels to ensure public health and consumer protection. The consideration of public health is two-fold including concerns over the health and safety of those who work directly with the dead and the environmental impact of the disposition of dead bodies. Additionally, Heimbecker (1995) speaks to the existence of regulations to ensure the dead are treated with respect and that their loved ones and estate are protected during a time of grief. In relation to revenue generated, Heimbecker (1995) indicates that over 50 percent of the revenue generated in the death-care industry comes from the provision of service, including such things as, paperwork, transportation of bodies, embalming, provision of space for funerals, cremation, and the opening and closing of graves. Approximately 50 percent of the revenue generated in the death-care industry comes from the sale of goods such as coffins, urns, and vaults (Heimbecker, 1995). In recent years, there has been a movement towards more personalized death rituals where the aspects of what made a person unique are used to celebrate who they were as a person (Emke, 2002). This movement has led to a focus on celebrations of life rather than mourning or grieving the death of a loved one. This transition in death rituals has resulted in a desire to experience death rituals as positive opportunities to review who the deceased was as an 28 individual and the positive aspects of their living (Emke, 2002). Moving from death rituals focused on grief and mourning to rituals focused on celebrations of life has implications for the death-care industry. Trompette (2007) speaks to the vast array of services and products provided by the death-care industry, and the industry’s ability to meet the diverse and changing needs of consumers. Mandel and Smeeters (2008) and Gentry et al. (1995) describe the means by which consumption of objects during grief and loss appear to be connected to attempts to maintain selfidentity in the face of mortality. For instance, the consumption of death insurance and pre-paid funerals provided by the death-care industry allow the living to plan the ways they will be immortalized upon their death. One important aspect of the death industry to note is its status as an unwanted service. Theron (2013) discusses the funeral industry as a type of service that most people have no desire to access, yet at some point in their life most people will need the death-care industry to assist with the death of a loved one. Likening the death care industry to dentistry, medical services, and legal services Theron (2013) discusses the difficult reality, for funeral directors, that the majority of their clients are reluctant consumers forced to access their services. Korai and Souiden (2017) suggest that those working in the death-care industry need to be aware of their position as an unwanted, but important service. Additionally, Korai and Souiden (2017) suggest that consumers’ overall satisfaction with services rendered by the death industry is highly dependent on the industry’s ability to function both as a business and as a moral entity providing services for a vulnerable consumer base. From this perspective, it is important to note that while the death-care industry is driven by profit, their success is also based on their ability to provide unwanted services in a way that is morally tolerable for the consumers that access them. Capitalism, Craftivism, and Lifestyle Movements As outlined above, Theron (2013) highlights how the death care industry has managed to exist despite its corporate reality, as unwanted service consumers felt obliged to access upon the death of a loved one. In describing the politics of resignation in relation to capitalism, Benson 29 and Kersch (2010) state “… there is a direct link between corporate tactics and strategies and the general feeling of disempowerment that characterizes contemporary political life and, furthermore, that corporations actively cultivate this sensibility and benefit from it” (p.460). Effectively, they describe how a politics of resignation encourages consumers to believe they have limited power over their own life circumstances. Additionally, Benson and Kersch (2010) discuss the politics of resignation as “… a powerful enabler of contemporary capitalisms because it legitimizes power as either inevitable or largely immoveable” (p. 461). Williams (2011) discusses how people have utilized crafting as a form of opposition to capitalism. “Indeed, many of the individuals involved in these movements identify not only as artists but also as advocates of a form of social activism referred to as "craftivism" that explicitly links this American iconographic tradition of self-sufficiency to contemporary mandates for a politics of sustainability, particularly in urban life” (p.1). Beyond the role of opposition to capitalism, Williams (2010) also discusses craftivism as, “the politics of doing it yourself” and draws attention to the ways crafting and creating develops a sense of resilience by maintaining feelings of self sufficiency in those who engage in creating products rather than purchasing them. Haenfler, Johnson, and Jones (2012) discuss the intersectionality of political activism such as craftivism and lifestyle movements. They define lifestyle movements as, “… loosely bound collectivities in which participants advocate lifestyle change as a primary means to social change, politicizing daily life while pursuing morally coherent ‘authentic’ identities” (Haenfler, Johnson, and Jones, 2012, p. 14). Whereas political activism relates to activities that are performed intentionally and publicly, such as many forms of craftivism, Haenfler, Johnson, and Jones (2012) also highlight the phenomenon of lives lived differently and their impact on societal change. Interestingly, Haenfler, Johnson, and Jones (2012) state that lifestyle movements are not always intentional and that those seeking to live lives more holistically centered may in fact be driving societal change without the intent to do so. 30 The Death Positivity Movement According to the Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Care at the End of Life (1997), the culture of death in America is not universal; however, traits such as individualism, fighting aging, and a medical system that fights death at all costs has a strong negative impact on American views related to death. In contrast to what some have called a death denying culture in America, the death positive movement is a present-day grassroots movement in western society hat works to connect death workers and those working in social realms to initiate open conversations related to death and dying (Zibaite, 2020). Some segments of the death-positive movement include death cafes, the work of death doulas, and engaging in home funerals. An excellent example of the grassroots effort to create a more death-positive outlook is the development of death cafés. A death café is organized by volunteers who create opportunities for people to meet over coffee and cake and talk about their views of death and dying (Baldwin, 2017). According to Miles and Charles (2015), death cafés originated in Switzerland, progressed to England and the United States, and are now offered in many different parts of the world. Miles and Charles (2015) state that those who wish to host an official death café must ensure that the event is organized without profit; takes place in an accessible, respectful, and confidential space; does not lead people towards conclusions, products, or actions; and offers refreshments along with the discussion. Baldwin (2017) articulates the importance family dialogue plays in a person’s development of an understanding and comfort level with death. He suggests that death cafés provide an opportunity for conversations around death that may create a more deathpositive perspective as people engage in dialogue related to better understanding different perspectives on death and dying with people outside their family unit. Baldwin (2017) suggests that the death cafés encourage attendees to engage in conversations related to death and dying as 31 the motivation of volunteers is typically to assist others in lessening the anxiety and fear they feel related to death and dying, thus creating a more normative feeling towards such conversations. American society has moved from a history of home births and home deaths to a medicalization model where births and deaths are orchestrated by the medical system (Hall, 2017). While the processes of birth and death reap benefits from connection to a system of medicine, there are humanistic aspects of birthing and dying that are not best delivered in medicalized settings (Hall 2017). Just as women have accessed birth doulas to assist with the birth of babies, people are now accessing death doulas to assist the dying and their families with the process of death (Rawlings et al., 2019). The role of the death doula is not clearly articulated as there is no regulating body that assists in defining what it means to be a death doula (Rawlings et all, 2019). However, death doulas practice in the gap between the medical system and care provided by loved ones for those who are dying ensuring that their personal needs are met and often act as an advocate for the dying (Rawlings et all, 2019). While each death doula functions within their personal skill set, they often provide physical, emotional, psychological, and existential care for the dying (Rawlings et al., 2018). Death doulas work to support those who are dying in ways that clients often feel are not addressed by the medical system; and while they work with the dying’s loved ones, they may also support those who are dying without interacting with family members (Rawlings et al, 2018). Olson (2016) ties the work of death doulas to assist in creating positive death experiences while assisting families who wish to care for the dead themselves rather than employing government sanctioned funeral professionals. Thus, they are putting care and control of the dying and dead back into the hands of their community. One way that people are choosing to engage with death and dying includes home funerals, which provide a vastly different experience than those performed by funeral homes 32 (Hagerty 2014). Home funerals provide people with the opportunity to care for their loved one’s body after death, and typically includes washing, dressing, and preparing the body for burial or cremation as well as allowing time for home viewing of the body (Hagerty2014). Bodies cared for at home take on quite a different appearance than those in funeral homes because they are not embalmed; this allows for an immensely different interaction with the body as natural body care allows for natural decay. Hagerty (2014) speaks to the way experiencing a home burial body encourages those mourning a loss to see the progression of the body as dead versus the embalmed body that produces a notion of immortality. Hagerty (2014) writes, Home funerals offer a generative view of how ordinary people conceptualise death and the dead body in ways that diverge from biomedical understandings. It is a response that frames friends and families–not only doctors and embalmers–as those with authority over the care of the body, the process and timing of death, and the ability to navigate the ethical demands of the end of life (p.440). Thus, home funerals work to empower the bereaved to see themselves as experts in the care of their loved ones rather than handing over care to others who are scripted as the professionals. In summary, the literature review supports connections between historical and contemporary death practices, the history of caskets, death rituals, complex grief, and posttraumatic growth, the death care industry, and the death positivity movement. Research surrounding the impact of casket building on people’s experiences with death and dying appears to be absent within the literature. It is my hope that this study will contribute to social work knowledge offering people alternative ways to manage grief and loss. 33 Chapter 3: Research Methodology A methodology is defined as “a theory and analysis of how research should proceed” (Harding, 1987, p. 2) Methods make up the “procedures, tools and techniques” of research (Schwandt, 2001, p. 158). This chapter outlines the methodology—interpretive description—and methods I utilized while conducting my qualitative research. Additionally, this chapter highlights my strategies for data collection, data analysis, distribution of study results, and ethical research practice, and it reviews limitations of the research. Research Design The research design utilized for my study is known as interpretive description (Thorne, 2008). The purpose of my study was to explore and interpret the experiences of people who built caskets for a loved one. According to Creswell (2014), Qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. The process of research involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participants setting, data analysis inductively building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher making interpretations of the meaning of the data… those who engage in this form of inquiry support a way of looking at research that honors an inductive style, a focus on individual meaning, and the importance of rendering the complexity of a situation (p. 4). Qualitative research supports the collection of comprehensive data derived directly from dialogue with research participants in face-to-face interviews. An extensive review of literature yielded no relevant research on the study of casket building in relation to the ways people engage with casket building activity during times of grief 34 and loss. According to Stebbins (2001), “Researchers explore when they have little or no scientific knowledge about the group, process, activity, or situation they want to examine but nevertheless have reason to believe it contains elements worth discovering” (p. 5). Thus, the limited findings in the literature review indicate the topic requires exploration. According to Singh (2007), exploratory research is used for continued exploration of a topic through methods such as “…in-depth interviews, focus groups, or case studies. Exploratory research thus cannot provide a conclusive answer to research problems and usually are not considered useful for decision making, but they can provide significant insights to a given situation” (p. 65). Exploratory research is an excellent method to review the experiences of those who engage in casket building after the death of a loved one because the goal of the research is to explore the research participants’ experiences without the intent of decision making related to problem solving. The data from the interviews was utilized to create an understanding of what people’s experiences were with casket building after the death of a loved one. However, one cannot simply make meaning from experiences without engaging with the data. As discussed by Tracy (2013), interpretive research takes on its own distinct tone, “Human activity is not regarded as a tangible material reality to be discovered and measured; rather, it is considered to be a “text” that can be read, interpreted, deconstructed, and analyzed” (p.41). The aim of the research was not to create measurable standardized outcomes, but rather to better understand the experiences of those who engaged in casket building for loved ones. It is important to note that, “Interpretivists view knowledge as socially constructed through language and interaction, and reality as connected and known through society’s cultural and ideological categories” (Tracy, 2013). Therefore, the knowledge gained from this research is situational to each participant’s current personal reality. Truth, knowledge, and understanding 35 differ according to the experiences, opportunities for dialogue, and cultural norms of the researcher, research participants, and those who choose to engage with the research outcomes. Berger and Luckman (1966) assert that, “reality is socially constructed, and sociology of knowledge must analyze the process in which this occurs” (p.1). As such, it is important to remain cognisant of the ways people create meaning from their experiences with casket building. According to Thorne et al., (2016), interpretive description was born out of a need for nurses to ground their research in the applied practice of nursing rather than in theory. Traditional theoretical frameworks in qualitative studies were grounded in theory that was sometimes disconnected from the epistemology and clinical practice of nursing. Nurses wanted to root their studies in the actual applied practice of nursing, and therefore there was a need for a new form of qualitative research. Thorne (2008) describes interpretive description, “as a method for generating knowledge pertaining to clinically derived phenomena [that] explicitly locates itself within the applied disciplinary domain” (p. 68). This research is located within the domain of social work as a discipline and will be informed by central theories of social work practice. Thorne (1997, 2014, 2016) writes that interpretive description is not a distinct method of research outside qualitative methodology. Rather it is a focus on qualitative research that is conducted with the intent of impacting the applied practice of those working within an applied field of discipline rather than being rooted in a particular theory. Thorne, (2016) writes of interpretive description, It is an approach that requires an integrity of purpose deriving from three sources: (1) an actual real-world question, (2) an understanding of what we do and don’t know on the basis of all empirical evidence, and (3) an appreciation for the conceptual and contextual realm with which a target audience is positioned to receive the answer we 36 generate…As such it offers the potential to deconstruct the angle of vision upon which prior understanding have been erected and to generate new insights that not only shape new inquiries but also translate them into practice (p.40). Thorne et al. 2016 speaks to the ways interpretive description works to recognise the significance of knowledge that directly impacts the human experiences of those who are impacted by the practice of people who work in applied health professions. Interpretive description strives to create new knowledge related to the subjective parts of human experiences. The role here is not to further develop theory but rather to further inform practice that impacts the lives of those that the profession of social work intersects. Additionally, interpretive description allows a researcher to engage in a way that "…invites scholars into ‘ownership’ of the epistemological direction of their qualitative studies…" (Thorne, 2016, p. 37). This approach removes expectations that the researcher will remain unbiased towards the research and encourages engagement from their professional epistemology. Social work is a broad profession with diverse fields of practice. Reamer (2018) states, “effective and ethical social workers do what they can to promote individuals’ capacity to pursue their own goals in life, and avoid paternalistic, patronizing interventions. They especially strive to engage people as partners in the helping process, and they do so with as much honesty, integrity, and competence as possible” (p. 50). Since social work practice is always evolving and there is a requirement for social workers to engage with a range of theories and philosophies, develop ethics, establish perspectives, and work within frameworks in order to effectively assist the populations they serve. Sheafor and Horejsi (2012) refer to this evolution of practice as “one’s theoretical orientation to practice” (p.35). My theoretical orientation was informed by the literature review, my therapeutic alliance with a professional social worker within the medical 37 model, social work disciplinary epistemology, and my ideas and experiences in relation to casket building as a method of coping during my experiences with grief. Interpretive description was a good fit for this research project because it centers around people’s subjective experiences with casket building. Interpretive description offered the most compatible approach to forming an understanding of the individual and shared experiences of people who built caskets for a loved one. Data Analysis I used thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to examine the data collected from semistructured interviews with research participants. This allowed me to detail meaningful results. According to Braun and Clarke (2006), thematic analysis is easy to execute, flexible, applicable to qualitative research, and well suited to novice researchers. Since I was engaging in qualitative research and had little experience in research design, thematic analysis was a good fit for this research study. I followed the six stages of thematic analysis outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006) as listed below: Phase One: Familiarizing Yourself with the Data. I was involved with the data from its inception, as it was created from online digital interviews that I conducted with research participants. Braun and Clarke (2006) state, “Immersion usually involves, repeated reading of the data, and reading the data in an active way - searching for meanings, patterns and so on” (p.16). Once the data were collected, I immersed myself in the data through transcribing the interviews, re-reading the interviews while listening to the audio at least three times. While personally engaging in the transcription was labour intensive, it provided me with an opportunity to really engage with the data. However, it was in re-reading the transcripts while listening to the interviews that I found I became most familiar with the content. 38 Phase Two: Generating Initial Codes. I coded the data by reviewing the transcribed interviews by the way of a chart form. On one side of the chart, I listed the transcribed interview, and on the other side I listed codes, as I read and re-read the interviews. Braun and Clarke (2006) state that coding differs depending on if the research is being directed by the data or by a theory (p. 18). With the research being exploratory in nature and rooted in interpretive description, it was clear that the data itself would need to direct the coding rather than me trying to make the data fit into specific theory. I was careful to include interesting aspects of the data in each interview that did not appear to be repeated in subsequent interviews. It was important to include those aspects that did not appear to be repeated in other interviews because in some cases, I was able to find that other research subjects had actually touched on similar points. Phase Three: Searching for Themes. Once all the data was coded and reviewed, I worked to organize the codes into larger themes. I placed the codes on sticky notes with reference to the data set and attached phrases while organizing and re-organizing them under possible themes. While working on the initial step of searching for themes, as suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006), I was careful not to remove any possible themes at this point in the process. Phase Four: Reviewing Themes. This phase is about reviewing the possible themes created in the previous phase. At this point, Braun and Clarke (2006) suggest reviewing the perspective themes listed in Phase Three to ensure that the data contained within the theme is cohesive. Next, they direct researchers to review the data set as a whole, to ensure that the themes reflect the overarching themes supported by the data as a whole. This stage was time consuming, as I reviewed, collapsed, and bolstered various themes pulling from the transcribed interviews. Copious amounts of time were spent reviewing and re-reading the interviews, to ensure that the themes garnered from the data were accurately depicted. 39 Phase Five: Defining and Naming Themes. While themes in previous phases of the process of thematic analysis had titles, this stage of the process was about coming to a more intimate understanding of the themes. During this stage Braun and Clarke (2006) encourage researchers engaged in thematic analysis to formulate and articulate, through analysis, meaning behind each theme as well as develop catchy and concise names for each theme in order to allow readers to draw clear connections between the data and thematic analysis. In this stage of the process, I spent a lot of time naming and re-naming the themes as well as moving the data between themes to make the themes more succinct. At one point, with encouragement from my thesis supervisor and committee members, I moved back into this phase after starting the report. With some dialogue and support from my committee, what became clear to me when I moved back into this phase was that I had not clearly defined the themes. After some assistance with a internal peer review from my committee, I was able to ensure the themes had validity and rigour. Once I had a clear definition of each theme, I was then able to settle into four major themes and produce the report. Phase Six: Producing the Report: Once the themes were clearly articulated and found to be fully supported by the data, it was time to write them into the report. Braun and Clarke (2006) indicate the importance of being concise, effective, and informative in forming the succinct story your data set tells. It was important at this stage in the research that I create a functional description of the experiences of the interview participants related to their personal experiences with building a casket for a loved one. Ensuring Rigour To ensure validity of the outcomes derived from the data, I utilized the following validity strategies as suggested by Creswell (2014): 40 1) Triangulate various data sources to seek themes that are connected between research participants. If you can justify themes based on re-occurrence, it adds validity to the study. While working to define themes from the data, I reviewed data from interviews with the four participants and formed themes that re-occurred amongst the shared data. Each theme that was extracted from the data was linked to the experiences of multiple participants. 2) Use member checking. I did this through providing opportunity for research participants to review and provide comments for their transcribed interviews and also provided an opportunity for them to review the first draft of Chapter 4, Research Findings. The transcribed interviews were member checked by three out of four participants, and the first draft of Chapter 4 was member checked by two our of four of the participants. One participant chose not to engage in member checking of either the transcribed interview or Chapter 4 and another participant chose not to engage in member checking of Chapter 4. 3) Use fulsome descriptions to convey the findings. This will allow readers of the thesis to see likeness or difference in their experiences, or the experiences of those they serve, in relation to the data that was included in the research, thus allowing them to create distance or meaning from the work. When I was reporting on the research findings, I used many detailed quotes directly from the interviews in order to allow readers to see the exact words shared by participants. I worked to include direct quotes rather than paraphrases of the information shared in the interviews throughout the research study. 41 4) Clarify the bias the researcher brings to the study. My biases as someone who has had positive experiences with casket building for a loved one are clearly articulated. 5) Present negative or discrepant information. It is imperative that the results of the study include information related to data that does not meet my assumptions. If themes arise, but data counter to that theme also emerge, it is imperative to report on both contradictory evidences as part of reality, and being open to the existence of this will add validity to the research (pp. 201-202). I did not have contradictory evidence within the data from the interviews, but one participant shared some negative reactions that his family faced in relation to their casket building experiences. The participant put a positive spin on this experience, but I thought it was important to include the negative interaction in the findings. Sampling and Data Collection Since the research methodology was qualitative, exploratory, and interpretive, the goal was not to engage with a large group of research participants but rather to conduct interviews that provided an abundance of data. The following criteria were established for research participants; be at least 19 years of age, have engaged in building a casket for a loved one, and be willing to engage in an interview related to their experiences with casket building. My goal was to interview four to six people. I secured four study participants. According to Fusch and Ness (2015), it is impossible to state the number of interviews required to reach saturation in data collection for a qualitative study utilizing interviews for data collection; however, the importance becomes the richness of the information collected rather than the number of people interviewed. The four participants for the study had collectively built 11 caskets for loved ones and the data they shared in their interviews was detailed and encompassed a variety of unique experiences. 42 Social media was used for participant recruitment and resulted in attracting three out of four study participants. I created a Facebook page to provide information related to my study and recruit potential study participants. The page was titled, “Exploring People’s Experiences with Casket Building: Public Recruitment of Study Participants”. The page description explicitly stated: “This page has been created to recruit potential study participants for the research study, Exploring People’s Experiences with Casket Building Related to the Death of a Loved One. If you choose to like, follow, share, or comment on this page you will be publicly identified with the study”. The page contained a brief description of the study, the criteria to participate in the study, and the researcher’s contact information for those wishing to participate in the study. The statement related to sharing, liking, or commenting on the post clearly articulated that this type of social media interaction resulted in public identification with the study. In essence, the potential study participants might not remain anonymous. Since casket building does not appear to be an activity many people engage in, I was concerned it may be difficult to find participants to engage in the research study. I believed that utilizing snowball sampling might have assisted me in accessing a small sample of people who had engaged in the process of casket building. However, I was also aware that there were risks of engaging in snowball sampling, “…one downside to snowball samples is that they can quickly skew to one type of group, clique, or demographic (as participants tend to suggest others who are similar to themselves)” (Tracy, 2013, p. 136). This was not the case in the recruitment of participants for this study. I used snowball sampling to recruit a fourth research participant. “When units of analysis are individuals, it is not uncommon that a nonprobability sample is assembled using a snowball sampling technique where initial respondents or interviewees are used to recruit additional respondents; the sample thus grows like a rolling snowball” (Schwandt, 2015, p.279). Study 43 participants were asked to share the study and the researchers contact information to other possible participants. Research participants were sent an information letter and consent document through email prior to the interview (Appendix A). The information letter explained the research and provided participants with time to review the consent form before the date of the interview. The consent form clearly articulated their voluntary participation, the right to withdraw from the study at any time without any consequence, and the right to choose not to answer any of the interview questions. Participants were encouraged to ask any questions they had about the research before the date of the interview and again at the time of the interview. I reviewed the consent document with the participants and informed consent was attained verbally at the beginning of the interview and recorded on the Zoom video file. Additionally, two of the participants emailed scanned, signed copies of the consent form for my records. Research participants either chose or were provided with a pseudonym to ensure their confidentiality throughout the research process. Due to requirements for physical distancing amid the current global COVID-19 pandemic, the interviews occurred online through the Zoom video chat application. Participants connected from a location they identified as comfortable and confidential. Participants were informed on how to identify a confidential area for an interview and the risks associated with selfidentification of a confidential space (others may overhear their interview and hear personal details they are sharing about their experiences with casket building). The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured format. Jamshed (2014), states that semi-structured interviews are designed to encourage participants to answer a pre-constructed set of open-ended questions and are appropriate for broad use in qualitative research studies. Additionally, semi-structured interviews allow participants to describe their experiences in their 44 own words and from their personal perspectives while encouraging researchers to conduct their interviews systematically and collect comprehensive data (Jamshed 2014). As I moved through the interviews with the participants, it became clear that they required space and time to tell their stories. I provided the opportunity for them to openly tell their stories. Many of the questions I had were answered in the dialogue without having to formally ask questions. I took notes as I conducted the interview and directed the conversations through the use of pre-formed openended questions to be sure each participant had opportunities to share information that was relevant to the research. Much of the rich information that was shared came through the narration of the participants’ experiences. While the interviews were semi-structured, it was important to leave room for research participants to share fulsome details of their experiences and allow them to delve outside the interview questions to fully articulate their experiences related to casket building. There were ten open-ended, semi-structured interview questions (Appendix B). The questions served the purpose of garnishing rich data related to the main research question: “What are the experiences of people who have built a casket for a loved one?” The interview questions were created to be open ended, allowing for participants to answer the questions in detail, add their own insight to the interview, and encourage further discussion related to the topics. “Interview protocols associated with qualitative studies provide in-depth information about the participants' experiences and viewpoints associated with a particular phenomenon” (Christianbery, 2017, p. 6). While the digital interviews were required to ensure safety related to the pandemic, at times the online format proved to be difficult due to problems with the internet connections. One interview had to be re-started three times due to disconnection from the internet and technical 45 problems. Interviews ranged between 45 to 90 minutes. Initially, I expected interviews to last for an hour; however, there were large discrepancies in time spent depending on the depth and number of experiences participants had with casket building. As well, some of the participants that were interviewed had multiple experiences building caskets for loved ones and assisted others in building caskets for their loved ones. The four interviews resulted in over 100 pages of transcribed data with a rich description of many experiences. In appreciation for their participation, a 15-dollar Tim Hortons gift certificate was offered to each person who participated in the research. Three of the research participants opted to have their coffee card donated to the local food bank, and I ensured that was done. Ethical Considerations The completion of the Tri-Council ethics course was integral to my understanding of research ethics. Achieving this certificate was one of the first steps I took towards ethical research at the University of Northern British Columbia. This certificate has been attached (Appendix C). Furthermore, the Research Ethics Board forms for approval of this research project are completed and attached as (Appendix D). The level of risk for participants was low. Research participants had already engaged in casket building and would be sharing their experiences in an interview. The two risks identified could possibly be triggered feelings of grief and/or concerns over anonymity. I supplied information about access to counselling programs through the consent and information form that was provided to research participants. An informed consent disclosure related to my duty to report abuse of children and vulnerable people as well as my ethical responsibility to report disclosures related to harm or illegal activities was included in the consent form. As noted above, the participants received the package ahead of the interview and retained a copy for later 46 reference if needed. All data collected from the research participants has been stored on an encrypted USB flash drive and kept in a locked filing cabinet at my home. Additionally, all paper materials related to data collection and this research study have been kept in the same locked filing cabinet. When confidential information was sent digitally to research participants or to my thesis supervisor, the files included password protection. The passwords were sent separately from the information. I utilized a personal laptop during compilation of my thesis. That laptop was password protected and had a hard drive that was Bitlocker encrypted. Additionally, the data was stored on a secure folder on Sync.com where it is protected via end-to-end encryption. Ethical data management is an integral aspect of any study, as it ensures that data is collected, stored, and utilized within the integrity of the institution, the University of Northern British Columbia, and the TCPS research ethics policy. I read the research data management and research ethics policies related to research at UNBC and familiarized myself with information outlined in them. All information collected from the research participants, was obtained directly from the individuals. I completed the transcription in my home office on my password protected and harddrive encrypted laptop. The data will only be utilized for this specific study and the development of this thesis. Distribution of Study Results All research participants will have the option to receive a spiral bound printed copy of the final thesis as well as an electronic PDF copy of the document delivered through passwordprotected email. If participants prefer not to receive a paper copy of the thesis, it will not be printed. 47 Limitations I acknowledge that I have personal experiences with casket building and believe that those experiences created resiliency in my ability to cope with death, grief, and loss. From this perspective, it is important that I not let my bias impact the data collection or the outcomes of the research. “Being reactive to participants’ narratives because of similarities to their own experiences and seeing themselves reflected in interviewees can likewise affect interactions, follow-up questions, and data analysis” (Peterson, 2019, p. 149). In order to remain cognisant of my assumptions and bias, I kept a journal throughout the research process referencing my personal thoughts and feelings. I utilised the journal to keep my thought processes from interfering with the research data. I conducted four, semi-structured interviews with three men and one woman. Each participant was middle class and from European settler descent. Every participant had engaged in casket building for a loved one. It would be beneficial to conduct interviews with more women, people from various socio-economic backgrounds, and of different racial backgrounds to see if there is a difference between the experiences of these participants and a more diverse population who have built a casket for a loved one. Additionally, the study could be expanded to include participants with more ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. Benefits While conducting the literature review, it became apparent that there is a distinct lack of literature related to the experiences of people who choose to build caskets for their loved ones. This research will provide increased academic literature related to people’s experiences with casket building, as well as encourage social workers to think about their role and options for supporting clients who are experiencing difficulty related to death and grief. In particular, this 48 research encourages social workers to be open to alternative methods of coping with grief and loss. It is possible that the research participants may gain a sense of self satisfaction from sharing their experiences and by helping to broaden the information on casket building to those who may be interested. Spending time reflecting on their experiences may increase their feelings of competency in coping with the grief process related to the loss of their loved one. Additionally, this study provided an opportunity for the researcher to gain experience in a qualitative research project that will contribute to the academic literature in the field of social work. 49 Chapter 4: Research Findings This chapter outlines the themes developed from the interviews. The principal goal of my research was to explore and interpret people’s experiences with casket building for a loved one. In particular, my main purpose was to inform the practice of social work for those assisting clients who are struggling with grief and loss after the death of a loved one. My research objectives were: 1) To provide people who built a casket for a loved one an opportunity to share their experiences with others; 2) To understand the ways building a casket for a loved one created resilience and/or barriers for those experiencing grief; and 3) To understand how casket building can be implemented in social work practice, as a tool for individuals who are experiencing grief. While the study focused on casket building, it is important to recognize the holistic nature of each person’s experiences related to the death of those they loved. As I reviewed and analyzed the data, four themes were generated: 1) A desire for something different, 2) Influential rituals, 3) The importance of relationships, and 4) Maintaining wellness. Theme One: A Desire for Something Different The first central theme that became apparent from the data was the participants’ desires for independence from the funeral industry—participants wanted something different from what passes as “normal” in the realm of funerals (e.g., going through a for-profit, privatized funeral 50 services). Participants had distinct previous experiences with death that led to their yearning for various levels of autonomy in disposition of their loved ones’ bodies. Related to this desire for something different, participants built caskets, remained connected with the deceased’s body after death, pushed against the death care system, and assisted others who were also looking for something different. The stories and voices of participants, as linked to this theme of wanting something different, follow. Richard was raised on a farm in rural Manitoba where he developed connections to agrarian principles, including pragmatism and limiting waste. Richard worked for many years as a hospital social worker in a busy emergency room and enjoyed woodwork in his spare time. In the interview, he referred to himself as a “wood butcher” with some humour when referencing his carpentry skills. Part of Richard’s role as a social worker was to assist families after the death of a loved one. He was responsible for facilitating viewings in the hospital morgue, supporting families to wash and dress the deceased, linking families to funeral homes, and generally providing initial support to people coping with death. Additionally, Richard had assisted Indigenous communities in Northern BC with the transfer of the deceased from the morgue to caskets that were built at home in preparation for residential funerals on reserve. I remember unloading a box out of the back of a pickup truck of a First Nations family, and you know, this probably was after working at the hospital for less than a year. And I got Varathane on my hands because the box had just been kind of built the night before, and without being too intrusive just kind of engaged with a few of the family members around the story of, of how that kind of box was built and the tradition that they had within their clan system as to who built it. You know and it followed a very specific kind of routine when someone of significance dies. And I did recognize there were exceptions to that 51 because of marginalized individuals. You know it wasn’t always everyone within that community, but yeah it was a very powerful experience. And I really was left with, why aren't more people doing this? This speaks to the pragmatic, just agrarian perspective, my grandfather taught me. At this point in time, Richard’s experiences with death and dying were largely connected to his career in social work. However, as Richard’s family faced the fact that his grandmother was aging, he began talking to them about building her a casket when she died. Initially, it was the desire to engage with his grandmother’s death in a pragmatic way that drew him into casket building. For a period of time, Richard had a business building caskets for others and has supported numerous families in the process of building their own caskets after the death of a loved one. Since his grandmother’s death when he built his first casket for a loved one, Richard has built many caskets for people he was connected to, including a close family friend and his eldest son who died in a car accident at 23 years of age. Anneka was raised in the city of Toronto. She was adopted, at birth, into a family of Middle Eastern descent and describes herself as being, “… a little bit too white”. Talking about her relationship with her father Anneka states, Because it was the Sixties, he got some flack about holding a baby that was white. And people, you know, were going to call the cops on him. And so, his relationship with me started off very badly. I ended up being like Kryptonite, and so it was always that way. By the time Anneka was ten years old, she had experienced the death of her adopted mother from cancer, the suicide of her first stepmother, and the death of her second stepmother from a car accident. Anneka had experienced many losses in her young life and struggled with a 52 difficult relationship with her father. Speaking about the children in her family’s experiences with death she said, We didn't attend funerals. There were no funerals. There were cremations. My father held them as sacred and private to his own self. So, he incurred a loss. It was only he that incurred the loss, and his children didn't. We were like plants, I guess. So that is that. So that is the great beginning. Anneka spoke about how she felt she struggled with loss fatigue at a young age because of the deaths she experienced. As Anneka grew older and left home, she moved to a small town in Northern BC, Smithers, where she described the people from the community, They were all about home, family, religion, work ethic, and it showed in this town. And so, I learned about all of those things by living there and by being friends with people. And so, people died, and I saw what happened when people died there.” Anneka felt that her experiences as part of that community informed her understanding of death and dying. When Anneka moved to Smithers, she worked in a flower shop and would deliver flowers for funerals. She describes a typical funeral situation. What I saw was a kitchen full of women making food for people that were not that hungry and a living room full of men dressed in things that they would never ever wear. And they were bored as hell, but they weren't allowed to have fun because this is a funeral. But they also weren't allowed to leave because this is a funeral. I saw it over and over and over again. It was fascinating. One day when Anneka was delivering flowers for a funeral, she got stuck in a driveway and had to get help to get unstuck. 53 And it was like all of these men had electrical things under their butt, and they jumped off the couch as if electrocuted, and they ran out the door towards my van in their slippery ass dress shoes that are ugly as hell, you know the ones. And they get to the van and slide all over the place, and they're having a great time. They physically lifted my Dodge Caravan out of the mud onto the ice so I could go. And, they are covered in mud, they are wet, and happy. They did something together, and I knew, as I was thanking them profusely for saving my ass, that this would be the defining moment at this funeral for them. This would be the thing that drew them together. They had a project; they did it together; and it created community for them. So, I drove away; and they were all in the driveway; and they were pushing each other on the ice. And, I could see them just jacking around 'cause you do. And I thought that was a moment. That was 1988 or 89, and that has stayed with me for my whole entire life as something that was really, really important. It was then that Anneka realised that there was a need for some kind of engagement to accompany grief after death. Several years later when Anneka faced the death of a beloved friend Anne, who was like a mother to her, Anneka chose to build Anne’s casket because as a holocaust survivor Anne believed in being pragmatic. “She thought everything that was expensive was stupid.” So, Anneka and Anne’s family built her casket together and utilized it to independently transport her body to the crematorium in Terrace three and a half hours away. “You know, you have some choices—you can pay the funeral home to transport your loved one to the crematorium that is three and a half hours away, or you can take them there yourself—which is what we did”. Anneka knew that Anne would appreciate the cost-saving measures, but Anneka 54 was more concerned about the experience than saving money. Anneka also engaged in casket building for a close family friend and like Richard has started a casket building business. Charlie works as a librarian in an educational institution in Maine and has been drawn to carpentry since the 1970s. One of Charlie’s first experiences with the death of a loved one happened when his father died in 1979. My one experience before that was really important to me. It was when my father died. It was 1979—it was six months between a metastatic lung cancer diagnosis and his death. He was home for the last six weeks of his life, and he was in his own bed with his wife and four kids touching him when he died. And you know, it had been a very personal experience up until that point; and I wanted to be a part of whatever happened next. But you know, it was 1979. I didn't know anything. And so, we called the funeral director who did what I'm sure he thought we wanted him to do, which was arrive promptly and zipped him up in a body bag and haul him away and four days later we get a box of ashes in the mail. I hated that. It was about 20 years later that Charlie found a manual with instructions related to home funerals and started to think about building caskets. He stated, “If you are a wood worker and you talk about home funerals, you’re going to make coffins”. So, Charlie started to make coffins for people. Aside from coffins he made for the public, Charlie made coffins for his in-laws when they died; and he made the coffin he used for his wife’s home funeral and green burial. Since his wife’s death, Charlie has continued to make coffins for the general public. Like Richard, Charlie feels that his work as a casket maker is a service he provides to his community. 55 Chuck lives in Saskatoon and grew up in a family that farmed crops on the prairies. As a young person, one of his memories about death and dying relates to a picture that caught his attention. I saw a photograph of a friend of mine’s mom’s dad who died back in the tens [1910s] or something like that. He was [pause] the box was in the living room propped up against the wall with the body in it. [laughter] That was a Ukrainian tradition—that family’s tradition. And, that was before there were any outside services, really. I always thought that was just such an interesting picture. You know. It was such a normal thing that they had a day or two, and it brought in the whole idea of the wake and those kinds of things. But of course, everything had to happen quickly because of the decomposition. So that’s always kind of stuck, and I can still kind of visualize it when I think of it. Additionally, Chuck is skilled in carpentry. The first casket Chuck made was built at the request of a friend whose grandchild had been stillborn. The friend knew that Chuck was a skilled wood worker, and he contacted Chuck to see if he could build a casket for his grandchild. Chuck obliged and built the casket. A few years later, Chuck’s dad died, and he decided that he wanted to play an integral role in the death care of his dad. Speaking about his dad’s death Chuck states, When he was in the hospital and his death was imminent, it was at that point that I thought that I’m going to build a casket. Not only that, but I’m going to be the funeral director. I want to do everything. But I have woodworking skills, so the casket was the easy part of it. Just finding some nice lumber and building the casket was pretty—that was straightforward. 56 Since building the casket for his dad, Chuck has gone on to build caskets for his mother, brother, cousin, and other extended family. Once he developed the skill, Chuck naturally took on the role of building caskets for his family. Richard, Charlie, and Chuck all had experience with carpentry before engaging in building caskets for loved ones and expressed that those skills were a part of what made them feel confident in taking on the task. When Anneka’s family decided to build Anna’s casket, they knew that they could rely on Anneka’s partner’s carpentry skills. Each participant in the study had some confidence that they could cope with the level of carpentry skills required to engage in the casket building. However, Richard also clearly states that only basic carpentry skills, many of which can be easily taught, are required to build a simple casket. I recognized that it was going to be less and less of a business, and so every single box-making opportunity I was wanting to turn it back to the family, and saying you know what, do you mean you have somebody in the family that knows how to run a cordless drill? Richard stated that most people could easily build their own casket with a little bit of direction. In their interviews, Charlie, Chuck, and Richard each made connections to the importance of caring for the body of their deceased loved ones as a central factor in deciding to build the casket for at least one of their loved ones. When Richard’s son died in a car accident on his way to Calgary and his body needed to be transported back to Prince George, Richard described the decision to build a simple box to transport his body. He needed to be transported, and I kind of was aware that ICBC would have totally paid for all of the costs to get him back here and whatever. But it’s like, oh no, it’s 57 not about cost. It’s not about being cheap; it’s not about that. It’s about—I want to participate in this. And so, we glued and screwed and put things together. Charlie talked about the way he was negatively impacted by his father’s body being whisked away after his death, but with the death of his wife he stated, And so, she was here all the time and then after she died, we took care of her here. Friends came over and helped out, and we kept her around for three days. Her coffin was right here in the living room. Chuck was also drawn to the way building a casket for his dad allowed him to manage his dad’s body after his death. He affirmed, “We knew that he was going to be, the body was going to be cremated. So really it was just a matter of managing the body. And part of that was to build a casket”. For each of the four participants, building a casket was the first step in taking possession of the body after the death of their loved one rather than relying on the funeral industry for managing the body. When Charlie first experienced a death of someone he loved, he was not aware that there were options to care for the bodies of loved ones outside utilizing a funeral home. After his father died at home surrounded by his wife and children, his father’s body was removed by the funeral home and returned in a box after cremation. While this experience left Charlie feeling unhappy with the process, it was not until 20 years later that he realised there were options that allowed casket building and home funerals. Knowledge of the rules is essential to providing people with alternative options. Without knowledge of possibilities outside the death care system, it is feasible that people do not know they can have control over their loved one’s bodies from the time of death until disposition. After learning about alternative death care options, Charlie started sharing this knowledge with other people. 58 And then, I started talking to people about home funerals. It wasn't that I was trying to convince anybody that they should do, try that, what my goal was to give people, if somebody wanted to have the experience that I wanted to have when my father died, here is the information you would need in order to be able to make that happen. Once Charlie started to learn information about home funerals, he started to build caskets because it allowed him to utilize his skill as a wood worker while supporting others who wished to have home funerals. Chuck knew that his father was terminally ill. While caring for his father in the hospital, Chuck decided that he wanted to build his father’s casket and that he also wanted to be responsible for his father’s body after his death. Nobody in Chuck’s family had ever done this before, but they were accepting of his desire to care for his father. Not knowing where to start to find information about government regulations, Chuck tried contacting funeral homes. “So, I started calling funeral homes to find out what I needed to do, and the first one said, “You can’t even do this. You are not allowed to do this”. Not easily swayed, Chuck contacted the government agent, and they were able to assist him with the paperwork requirements. But then I called the equivalent of something like vital statistics, and I said I want to do this, and are you the regulator for this. They said, “yes you can, there’s some forms, you have to be next of kin, there are some requirements”. So, I went down there, and the staff just walked me through it. And they were so happy and delighted to do it. And they were all a buzz. There were two or three people that showed up and said, “Yes this is the form you need. We can’t give it to you, but you can look at it. You can’t actually get this form until the person has passed”. But I became 59 familiar. It wasn’t daunting at all. There were several forms, it was just bookwork, really, but nothing complicated. Chuck stated that because his father was terminally ill before his death, Chuck had time to learn about the government requirements for transporting and taking care of his father’s body. Once he was able to contact the correct governing body, he could easily work his way through the necessary paperwork. Richard had a multitude of experiences with the death care system as a social worker in a hospital emergency room. From his work experience, he knew that home funerals were an option; he knew where to go for paperwork; and he had experience building caskets. Yet, he still struggled to assist his loved ones when his friend Agnes died in hospice. Twenty-four hours before her death, she was transferred to hospice because she had a pain crisis, and she died about 3:30 p.m. at hospice. And, hospice has this policy that you need to be out, the person's body needs to be out, within 24 hours. So 3:30 is the crappiest timing because, right, when somebody dies, you don't run down to the government agent’s office and fax away a transfer permit which is a one-page thing very simple to do but it's still bureaucracy. So, the next morning, Hospice House was really freaking out as to getting your ducks in a row. And is this going to happen, and I was quite surprised because they deal with death all the time. But they don't deal with people taking charge of their own situation. Richard had a casket that was dry fitted at home that he was able to quickly finish and utilize for transporting Agnes’s body. However, the timelines of having the body removed in 24 hours made it difficult for the family to complete the required paperwork to transport her body, complete the casket, and wash and dress her body before placing her in the casket. So, even with 60 knowledge and skill of how to provide their own death care and the government rules, the rules of the hospice made it difficult for them to take charge of their own situation. All four participants have assisted others to engaging in caring for the dead outside the death-care system. Once participants built their first casket, people heard about their experiences and inquired about how they could also build caskets. Each of them was willing to assist others who were looking for pathways to death care outside the death-care industry. When Chuck’s father was dying, he had enough time to learn about the governmentrequired processes for care and transport of a body. Recognising that not everyone has the time to sort their way through the system, Chuck created a detailed reference resource that he could share with others to help them find their way through the process. “So, I wrote it all up after. I wrote a very detailed document about how to do this yourself and shared that with quite a few people”. This past summer, Chuck was contacted by his nephew’s wife because her father was dying. She was interested in caring for her father after his death in alternative ways, so Chuck shared the resource with her and assisted by building the casket that the family then adorned. Having been through the process herself, she has now decided that she wants to build caskets. Chuck stated, “So, now it's intergenerational, so it's like someone else in the next generation is actually taking this on”. It was exciting for Chuck to be a part of educating a younger generation and seeing them take an interest in continuing with the practices he had shared. Anneka now runs a business that provides casket building kits making casket building more accessible to those who may find the task intimidating. Anneka experienced a similar desire to assist people navigate more autonomous death care for their loved ones. When her friend died in an avalanche, Anneka was tasked with notifying his wife of the death. She found herself sitting with his wife feeling very uncertain of the next steps. 61 And so, we sat there, and she looked at me and she said, “What do we do”? and I said, “I don't know”. Anyway, so that prompted me to find out [pause] so I made this pamphlet to give to people when we went to the coffins show, and to farmers’ markets. Because, nobody knows what to do. Nobody knows! I mean you don’t call 911, it’s not an emergency. It’s just gonna be, you know, a very slow process of movement from here on in, basically, on a microbial level. Anneka’s desire to provide knowledge for people who find themselves in the same state of not knowing what to do after the death of a loved was what encouraged her to create the pamphlet she shares with others while selling her casket-making kits. Out of the four participants, Richard had the most experience in helping others because part of his role as a social worker was to assist families who were dealing with the death of a loved one. Richard also worked with people to build caskets and provide guidance for home funerals for their loved ones. I mean, many of the people who I end up building boxes, well I end up, staying connected to and see them almost as friends. And so, it's this mystical connection when you’re helping somebody care for their loved one. That creates a sense of intimacy; and once that connection is made, it's hard to get back to kind of find this noble professional relationship. For Richard, his work as a social worker often co-existed with his work as a casket maker; and although he tried to run a business with casket building, it eventually became clear that he was providing a service to the community rather than building a business. And I actually thought that I was going to create a small little side business and even you know have a name, and you know my email is simple pine boxes. I've had this 62 for almost 20 years, but it became clearer and clearer that it wasn't going to be a business. It was more of a calling. Over the years, Richard has lost count of the number of casket and home funerals he has helped with, but he still feels extremely passionate about the work that connects him to his community. For each participant, there was a life experience related to death that drew them into the process of casket building and thus led them into a death-care experience outside the death care industry. For Anneka and Charlie, it was a dissatisfaction with their previous experiences upon the death of a loved one that lead them to casket building. Chuck and Richard both built caskets for loved ones because they had been made aware of the option from their life experiences— Chuck had made a casket for a friend’s still-born grandchild, and Richard had witnessed clients building caskets at the hospital where he worked. After engaging in building caskets, each participant also had personal connections with the bodies of their deceased. In order to have these experiences, it was necessary for each participant to push against the death care system by learning the regulations for transporting and caring for the bodies of their loved ones post death. Finally, after having been through the process of personally providing death care for their loved ones, participants found ways to help others in their communities who also had a desire for something different when it came to caring for their dead. Theme Two: Influential Death Rituals While the study was focused on understanding the experiences of those who had built caskets for a loved one, the data clearly showed that casket building was not the only influential death ritual participants engaged in as part of their experience. Therefore, the second central theme that arose from the study was that participants engaged in various death rituals including but not limited to the focus of the study—casket building. The death rituals participants engaged 63 in included casket building, creating grave goods, post death care for the deceased, and taking their deceased loved one for a last ride before cremation or burial. The accounts and descriptions of participants, linked to this theme of influential death rituals, follow. Each casket that participants discussed was built by hand and of wood. The caskets took from a single afternoon to several days to build and included a variety of finishes. Some were lined with hay and others were lined with blankets, each with the intent of providing a worthy vessel for a cherished person. In fact, the four participants had collectively built a total of 11 caskets for people they considered loved ones. While the participants each had distinct stories related to the building of these caskets, materials, physical and spiritual engagement, the importance of quality and casket personalization were integral to participants’ experiences with casket building. Richard’s first casket was built for his 94-year-old grandmother whose death was expected and timely. He had some trepidation about getting started due to his lack of experience. “But I’m clueless. I had kind of made a few rectangle boxes, but I again am back to this concept of a family tree”. However, after cutting a live edge from a pine stump for the foot board of the casket and having his son sand it smooth, Richard started to conceptualize how he could form a wedge-style casket that would resemble a family tree with a live-edged piece of pine as the foot board. A few days into the build, Richard was using wood he had dried next to his wood stove for the sidewalls of the casket and had selected a piece of aromatic cedar for the base of the casket. He was pleased with how the casket was coming together when he received a phone call from his mother. The extended family was suggesting that Richard’s grandmother’s casket required oak. Richard headed to the hardware store and was able to find a piece of Russian Oak to top his grandmother’s casket, which was fitting due to her being born in Russia. Holes were 64 drilled for the insertion of branches at the grave site to create the look of a tree, and each of his cousins were provided a 4- by 6-inch space for the placement of an oak plaque on the bottom of the casket. Richard built two more caskets that he discussed in his interview; however, he did not speak in depth about the materials utilized for them. Chuck also spoke about the importance of the materials he utilized in the building of caskets. The first casket Chuck built was for a still-born grandchild of a friend. Chuck described the wood he utilized for building the casket. “I had another friend who had a lumber yard, and he had a beautiful big piece of cedar that he said that I could have. But, when I mocked it all up, there was no margin of error”. Chuck was able to precisely cut the wood and build a casket for the infant. When talking about building a casket for his father a few years later, Chuck said, “At that point, I just used some really pretty plywood”. As time moved forward, Chuck went on to build caskets for his brother, his mother, his cousin, and his nephew’s father-in-law. As Chuck built caskets, he started to reflect more on the materials he was using. I don't use plywood anymore. I use pine boards that fit together, and I'm trying to minimize the amount of foreign materials, like the plywood was convenient to begin with, but I use just boards now to avoid glue. I can imagine, I just imagine what that would be like inside the cremation vessel what’s happening in there with toxic fumes, so I’m trying to be a little more [environmentally friendly], using more natural products for that. For Chuck, it is important that the materials he builds caskets with allow for nontoxic disposition of the bodies they serve. Two of the participants, Chuck and Charlie, engaged in the physical construction of the caskets mostly as a solitary activity. It is interesting to note that both men disclosed that they had 65 a strong background in carpentry and believed that their woodwork was, to some degree, an art form, or a practice. Charlie detailed his physical engagement in the process, Well you know when I am wood working, I'm aware of where my body is because I know that if I'm doing this one thing, whatever I'm doing. If I'm not standing the right way, or if I'm not in position, or if I'm not paying attention, I'm not gonna do it as well as I could, if I were, right. Chuck identified a more spiritual side of his engagement with casket building. “I always just take a few moments with the lumber in my hands, and I give thanks for the skill in my hands”. While the process of actually constructing the box has been more solitary for Chuck and Charlie, both have engaged with others in further developing the caskets they have built. For instance, both Chuck and Charlie have had people paint designs on caskets they have built. Both Chuck and Charlie communicated that there was great value in sharing the caskets they had built with others who were able to add personalization to them. When Anneka was involved in building Anne’s casket, it was a family affair. Anne’s husband, son, and daughters assisted Anneka and her husband with the casket building. Anneka’s husband led the building while others assisted where they could. Anne’s daughters went to work sorting out the fabric and the lining for the casket as well as deciding what their mother would wear. The casket was built in a day, all with Anne’s grandchildren running under foot. The next day, the casket was used to transport Anne’s body to the crematorium, which was a three-and-ahalf-hour drive from their home. All three caskets Richard talked about building were assembled with others. The initial building of his grandmother’s casket was done with his children and then his extended family assisted with the sanding and finishing of the casket. When his friend Agnes died, there was little 66 time to prepare a casket. Richard utilized a prototyped casket that was already partially built for the casket making business he owned. Richard’s chosen son, who was still in primary school, assisted him in finishing the casket for Agnes. The sudden death of Richard’s son also required a fast build of a casket to transport his body back to Prince George from the morgue in Calgary. So, he quickly assembled a casket in his back yard with his parents and his three other sons. Once Richard’s son was brought home, his body was held in the hospital morgue. This allowed Richard to leave the box with a group of his son’s friends to be hand sanded. Ultimately, Richard stepped away from the building of the casket for a period of time to allow his son’s friends the opportunity to experience working on it. Additionally, Richard had a group of people who were significant to his son’s life place the final dowels in the lid of his son’s casket at his funeral before he was taken to the crematorium as a final act of completing the casket. The dominant social narrative of Richard’s extended family was to utilize the services of a funeral home and purchase a coffin when someone dies—yet Richard challenged that narrative by asking permission to build a casket for his grandmother. While Richard had some knowledge of carpentry, he was not a finishing carpenter. Even though this would be the first casket he would build, he felt a responsibility to ensure that the casket was of good quality. Part way through building the casket, Richard received a phone call from his mother, “And she says, you know, some of the aunties, the in-laws, are saying Grandma really deserves oak.” At first Richard was taken back by the comment. However, once he took some time to think about what was said, he realised what they were trying to communicate. “Right, they don't want it cheap. They don't want it to look crappy. They want a nice, finished box”. When speaking about how 67 the expectations of his family impacted him, Richard stated, “It added a bit of anxiety to the whole project”. When it came time to finish the box, Richard had other obstacles to overcome. So, pretty much the last half day, I am trying to figure out how I am finishing this. And my anxiety then went through the roof because it’s like, it’s gotta be finished properly. And so, it’s crappy December weather. She died in Williams Lake, and I can’t cart it on a trailer 'cause it's unfinished. So, I put it on the roof rack of our van. I wrap it in plastic, and we head out to Williams Lake…So, you know I called my Mom up and said, you know, make space in the basement. Call the family we’re gonna finish it together. Richard’s decision to finish the casket with his extended family allowed others to participate in the building of the box and thus contribute to the quality of the casket. Other research participants also spoke about the importance of quality in the caskets they built. When Chuck was building the casket for the still born baby he said, “I’m fairly skilled with woodwork, but I thought, I can’t make any mistakes with this”. Chuck expressed that he had a strong desire for this little casket to turn out well; and when talking about the final product, he stated, “It was a beautiful small box for this little child”. When talking about building caskets, Charlie describes the importance of the work, “They asked you to make this coffin, and it's not like somebody asking you to make a new dining room table or something. That's just something else you have there. But this coffin, it is important to them and the family”. Charlie feels a sense of responsibility when building a casket, no matter if it belongs to someone close to him or if it is a member of the public that has requested his services. Additionally, Charlie, Richard, and Anneka who all have built caskets as part of a business as well as for loved ones felt that casket building was a service they provided to the community. 68 Every research participant spoke about the personalization of caskets as part of the casket-building process. Some of the caskets were personalized at the time of building. For instance, Richard’s grandmother’s casket that was built to represent a family tree with individual plaques for each branch of her family to adorn. Others, like the casket for Charlie’s wife, were created and then personalized by people—like a blank slate to be decorated in memory of the person the casket contained. In talking about the personalization of caskets, Chuck said, “I've been able to share those activities with others when there's time to. There is a little bit of time for people to actually really personalize these things”. The level of personalization of a casket appeared to be directly connected to the amount of time participants had with the casket that was often impacted by the length of time with the body before disposition. Personalisation of the casket was noted by each participant and was described in both simple and complex forms. When Anneka was building the casket for Anne, the personalization was linked to the type of material the casket would be lined with. Charlie believes that personalizing the casket is a healing act for many people, and he encouraged people to decorate his wife’s casket during the three days he had her body at home before her burial. Charlie describes a significant event during the time he had his wife’s body at home, The most unusual one was a woman that worked with my wife for just for a couple of years, working in the same business, but not in the same area that my wife was in. But they knew one another. She was an artist. Like, she can make a living at it. But, about the second day she was here after her death, her friend walked through the door at about 1:30 in the afternoon. And, she has some paints, and you know straight edges and stuff with her. She spent an hour and a half doing a very flowered [pause] the letters, the capital letters were six inches high, and just straight across the 69 middle of the coffin wrote her name. With little flowers tucked in here and there and something like that. And then she walked in, hardly said hello, and just went to work. And then, she finished that., put everything in her thing, and left without saying a word. From the description provided by Charlie, it appears that the artist was engaged more in the process of creating her artwork on her friend’s casket than interacting with those who were in attendance to witness the artist’s work. Like Charlie, Chuck spoke about the experience of seeing others personalize the caskets he had built. One example that he spoke about that really stood out was when he built a casket for his nephew’s father-in-law. The man who the casket was built for died slowly, and the casket was ready before the family had a direct need for it. This allowed the family to spend time with the casket and personalize it before it was utilized. Chuck recalls, “And the one casket, all the grandchildren, they did hand dipping, and they put their handprints on the side as well. So, when there is time, there is really an opportunity to have everybody involved”. Chuck described this time the family spent personalizing the casket, So having the box in the driveway, in the garage for a couple of days, and painting it and watching that transition of the box, had lots of interesting family conversations. All good family conversations about what dying was and what this box was for. Like, Grandpa is going to be in there. Other participants also talked about how working on personalizing the box was a special time because it provided opportunity for meaningful conversations. 70 Three out of four participants had some involvement with grave goods6 in at least one of the caskets they had built. While some of the grave goods were simple, others were more complex. Common grave goods that participants discussed were messages, notes, or words included with the deceased and meant to be carried with them through disposition of their body. When Anneka’s family and friends were working on the casket for Anne, notes that others had written were included in her casket. “And so, people wrote things on the inside, little notes, and you know, just the things you wanted to say or wanted them to carry with them in their death”. A poem that Richard’s grandmother had carried in her bible was copied and placed in her casket. Her family members wanted to keep the original poem she had handwritten so they copied the poem onto another piece of paper and shellacked it to the inside of the casket. Additionally, they included a duck-down pillow because his grandmother always had quality duck-down pillows to sleep with. Chuck’s mother’s casket contained a package of cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey and his nephew’s father-in-law was accompanied by his cross-country skis that were an integral aspect of his life. The most in-depth discussions related to grave goods came from the interview with Richard. When Richard’s 23-year-old son died, he knew it would be important to create opportunities for his son’s siblings and friends to grieve his loss and engage with their grief in productive ways. One of the ways Richard did this was to bring his son home to the property his son was raised on and host a wake. One his son’s friends had met Richard as a social worker at the hospital when he had a near-death experience, so there was a previous connection between them. Richard speaks of their interactions at his son’s wake, 6 For more discussion related to the term “grave goods” please see key concepts on Page 11. 71 And so, he came out to the property, and we talked back and forth on the porch not in the cabin. Because the box was in the cabin and he didn’t feel comfortable going in the cabin. So, we talked for about an hour and half, and I heard his story. We talked about it and that connection that I had met him on his life and death journey. And then he kind of went, “Ya, I should go in and just pay my respects”. So, he went in there. You know he was there for about 15 minutes and then he came out and a short time later we parted ways. Well fast forward to the, after the cremation, and the funeral director was a little bit upset with me. I mean she was kind, but a little bit upset because there was some glass in the box. And so, his friend had actually left a beer with him, and it ended up getting cremated with him. Interestingly, the friend who was reluctant to visit with the body left grave goods in the casket. Additionally, Richard told me that his son was cremated wearing a pair of his prized Converse shoes. On the trip where his accident occurred, Richard’s son had 13 pairs of shoes with him even though he was only on a three-day trip. As well, his girlfriend had included in the casket a friendship bracelet that they shared. When Richard went to the crematorium to process his son’s remains, he was able to set aside the nonorganic remnants that were mixed with his ashes including the aluminum grommets from his converse shoes and the clasp from the friendship bracelet. Richard spoke about his son’s girlfriend requesting the clasp back from the bracelet and the importance of the grommets from the shoes. He stated, “I mean to most people that’s neither here nor there, but to me that’s a connection. Right. That very much embodied some of his personality”. It was clear that those nonorganic remnants from his son’s cremation, grave goods, were particularly important to Richard. 72 It was clear from reviewing the data that participants had a desire to continue to care for their loved ones after their death, thus creating a need to negotiate the relationship from one with the living to one with someone who is no longer alive. Every participant had a connection at some level with a desire to continue providing care after the death of a loved one. The integral aspects of providing post death care that arose from the data included: body care; and recognition, understanding, and acceptance of death. In discussing with the participants, the first central motivator of what drew people into casket building was that each of the four participants wanted to have some autonomy over the care of the body of their deceased loved ones. In some circumstances, this autonomy meant that they wanted to be able to house and transport the body independently from a funeral home; and in others, autonomy included more direct body care. Three out of four participants discussed in some fashion the actual ritual of providing care for the body of their loved ones. Charlie’s wife died in the living room of their home and was then transferred into a casket he built. Charlie and his extended family cared for his wife’s body from the time of her illness until they actively buried her body in a green burial cemetery three days later. He was actively engaged in laying her body out in the casket to receive visitors in his home during a three-day home funeral. When talking about spending time with his wife’s body he stated, It's so valuable for you or for most people if they were willing to do it, just to have the body around. So that you can just walk over there, you know, and look at them or you pick up their hand or touch them or whatever you want to do. And you can do that at 2:00 o'clock in the morning, if that’s when you wake up; and then you know, you want to wander over there and be there. 73 Charlie’s desire to care for his wife independently of the funeral industry was apparent in his conversations about the importance of having a home funeral where her body never left their home until it was time for her to be buried. When members of Chuck’s immediate family died, he built the casket with the purpose of containing their bodies for transport to a crematorium. Chuck was responsible for collecting the bodies, placing them in the casket, and taking them to the crematorium. In talking about caring for the bodies of his loved ones, he stated, “We kind of cuddled them up, did their shirt up, and wiped the drizzle, the dribble off and made them look like they were just kind of sleeping, but very dead. They were dead. They looked dead”. For Chuck, it was important that the care provided for the bodies of his loved ones not deny the reality that death had happened. Instead, Chuck felt comfort in recognising that the bodies of his loved ones were dead and represented someone that was no longer there. For him, knowing death physically as a tangible aspect of the end of life was an important part of the process. In his interview, Richard spoke of the first need he had after being informed of his son’s death, which was a need to know where his body was. Having worked as a social worker in the emergency department, Richard was familiar with the steps he would need to take to bring his son home. Speaking of that process he stated, I say to people that trauma sticks when you feel helpless, and right from that moment of being told of his death, I didn’t feel helpless. Because there was always about 20 things to do, and I had to figure out what’s the next thing? What’s the next thing? So, the first thing Richard did was build a casket to transport his son’s body and travel to pick him up in Calgary. The first interaction Richard had with his son’s body was at the morgue before he left Calgary. 74 But I remember kind of, being in this busy place, and I had to take a quick peek. Even though I know that bureaucratically, they had made sure it was my son. I had to make sure. So, I just took a little peek because I didn’t want to end up in Prince George with an eighty-year-old man. That’s what I envision. Once he knew that he was, in fact, transporting his son, Richard was able to bring him back to Prince George with the help his other two sons. When they reached Prince George, Richard was able to utilize the morgue at the hospital where he worked to house his son’s body before he brought him home to the property he grew up on for a wake. At the wake, his son’s friends and the family were provided an opportunity for visitation. Richard’s son had three funerals. There was a small gathering of people who met in a park for a small service before they left Calgary with his body, there was a country funeral in a community hall, and there was a town funeral in a local church. Richard spoke about the importance of the presence of his son’s body at the gathering in the park and the town funeral. Richard felt strongly that there was a need to provide opportunities for those who cared about his son to spend time with him physically after his death to engage in their own experiences and process his death. Part of Richard’s care for his son and those that were close to him was providing opportunities for them to spend time with his son’s body. After his town funeral, Richard’s son was cremated. At the crematorium, there was a group of people who all participated in moving the casket into the crematorium; and someone from that group pushed the button to start the process of cremation. Richard spoke about his experience, And initially I was going to hold a vigil all night and just sleep there [at the crematorium] on a couch. But my uncle convinced me to come back to Prince 75 George and connect with the family who were only there for a short period of time. And then drive me out the next day. And so, I came out the next day, and the funeral director promised not to do anything until I was there. And she actually let me process his remains. Which was very—I was very grateful. Because that’s way beyond the scope. And she said you know that’s not happened in all of her years of doing the funeral industry. But we kind of shared a special relationship, and she realised the importance of what it was for me. And interestingly enough, [for] my partner that I drove out with. I told the story of all the connections that I had had to death to the funeral director and my spouse. So, it almost created the space of safety and containment to talk about that. And again, of course, I am talking about all of these other people’s circumstances, but I’m processing my own. Like it doesn’t. I am literally sifting through the bones of my son and literally putting it through the chamber cause most people think it comes out as just dust, but no. While Richard’s experience of processing his son’s cremains are not the norm for families that choose cremation for their loved ones, the reality was that this process provided him with the space he needed to process his own circumstances related to the death of his son. Important to note is that each participant in the study had contact, in various forms, with the bodies of their loved ones. Contact with the body was a natural progression of building the casket, the vessel meant to carry the body until disposition. Participants were directly involved in bathing, dressing, and placing their loved ones into the caskets. Outside physical contact with the bodies of their loved ones, two of the participants also discussed the ways that casket building helped children with understanding the death of a loved one. 76 For Charlie, building the casket at his home allowed for a seamless transition from the home death of his wife into a home funeral. Charlie spent three days with her body at home before the burial. Charlie spoke about spending that time with her body and how it was important to actually experience the natural progression of her death rather than engage with a funeral home where the body is prepared to look as it did in life. “ I think that a home funeral is so personal that it changes the bereavement process. It greatly shortens. I, instead of that where the funeral director arrives and the body is gone, and you see it again two days later at the visitation all gussied up and, in a coffin, and things like that. Charlie explained that the home funeral where time is spent with the body encourages recognition that death has happened and that he believes that home funerals have potential to shorten the grieving process. Two of the participants discussed the need to view loved ones in order to make sure their loved ones were actually the bodies they were transporting after death. As mentioned earlier, Richard needed to check to make sure it was his son that he was transporting back home. When Anneka’s friend was killed in an avalanche, Anneka became a main supporter of this friend’s wife. Anneka spoke about picking up his body for transportation to the crematorium with his wife, So, when they picked him up, they didn't pick up all of him. And when we saw the body bag, because we went and got him, it was not a human form. Yeah so, that was very, very disturbing… He was at the hospital in the morgue, and we put the bag in the box and under no circumstance were we to open it. She really, really, really 77 wanted to open it. Cause she really wanted to see if it was him. So, we really, really had to restrain her. In the circumstance of Anneka’s friend, she was never provided the opportunity to view her husband’s remains after his death even though she took possession of his body and transported him to the crematorium. When Chuck spoke about his personal experiences with casket building and its implications for how he feels about death, it was clear that handling the bodies of his loved ones while placing them into the casket was integral to his understanding and acceptance of death. As a person who never struggled with death from a perspective of fear of the unknown, he rather saw it as a new adventure, Chuck talks about how handling a body makes it clear that the essence of the person is no longer there. I think it's more reaffirmed what I've always felt about it, really. I think the big piece being, like the part we just talked about, where physically handling the body, not that it’s important, but it's a real, real opportunity to actually know what is going on. There is no mythology around death here. Additionally, Chuck spoke about his experience with his cousin’s body. Although he had built her casket, he was not involved in her post-death body care or her transfer to the casket; and when he saw her at the funeral, the state of her body was a bit unnerving to him. When talking about the difference between his experiences with the bodies of his loved ones that he had cared for and his cousin he stated, They were dead. They looked dead. There was no attempt with makeup to change that, and I think that was, I mean, when I saw my cousin that for me really reaffirmed that that is not what I would want to have done. 78 Chuck disclosed that recognising death by allowing a body to look dead was an important part of the process for him. During the town funeral, Richard believed it was important for people to have access to his son’s body for visitation and that the opportunity to be with him might assist others in their grief. When talking about the experience Richard stated, And the second one at the church, I was very adamant that he needed to be present. That his body needed to be present for those people who needed to do that chunk of work and to do a viewing. And so, we set him off in one of the side rooms, didn’t make a big deal of it. But people knew that they were welcome to do that. And to me that was very important. And, I always said just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s not healthy. While he understood that spending time with the body was not an easy experience for everyone, he also discussed how it was a necessary part of healing for some. Recognition of death was tied directly to experiences with handling the body, yet two respondents also tied it to experiences with casket building. Both of those experiences involved children where interaction with a body may have been viewed by others as outside what was developmentally appropriate. In the section above related to personalising caskets, Chuck spoke about a casket he built where the family spent time with the grandchildren personalizing the casket for their Papa. During the time that they were working on the box as a family, they discussed death with the children and explained to them that the purpose of the casket was to house their Papa’s body after he died. Richard also spoke about the inclusion of children in box making. 79 So, the real interesting thing is my cousin, who was younger than me when my Grandpa died was traumatized by seeing my Grandpa in the casket, and so he was not going to go to the viewing or the ceremony. I can't remember if it was both because they kind of had them, both of them at the church. Because of his traumatic experience. But he came to work on it, and you know he has four kids and you know they had these little filler crayons that you kind of fill nail holes with, right. So, we're talking about, you know, a four-year-old kid that's kind of filling in holes, right. And you know, he's just talking about the story of Grandma. And how you know Grandma’s body is gonna get put in here. So, it was far enough removed so that they weren't exposed to that visual experience. So, he kind of protected his kids from that, but they were still allowed to participate in you know the aspect of building the container. Working on the creation of a casket for their loved one provided a concrete learning experience related to death and what death means without the risk of exposing them to experiences that may traumatize them. All four participants utilized at least one of the caskets they had built for a loved one to transport the body of their deceased for a “final ride”. As mentioned in the first section of this chapter, the casket was fundamental to the participants’ taking custody of the bodies of their loved ones after death. The casket created a vessel in which the body could be transported resulting in a story related to the final ride with their loved one. When Anneka lived in Northern BC, the nearest crematorium to her town was a three-and half-hour drive away. She knew that you could transport the bodies of your loved ones to the crematorium personally because she had heard about other people’s experiences in doing it. 80 I knew other people that had done that. Like you know, working in the flower shop I knew that . . . you know, Oh yeah, we're just gonna load buddy up into the truck and take him to Terrace, and it was the 80s, so people would ride with them. You know have a beer sit in the back. Have a chat. Like it was [pause] it was a little more real, and I think I always knew that. When Anneka’s friends whom she built caskets for died, she accompanied each of their bodies to the crematorium in Terrace with their families. Being involved in the transportation of their bodies was a foundational aspect of caring for her loved ones after their death. Chuck spoke about the last ride for his brother and his father in his interview. An integral aspect of the last ride with his family members was picking up their bodies and loading them into the casket to bring them to the crematorium. Chuck had the help of other people in this task as loading a body into a casket is not a one-person job. When speaking of his brother’s home death and collecting his body Chuck recounted, So, I was able to connect to his friends that were there. I said, “Look I need your help, if you are interested, I need your help to transfer the body out of the bedroom”. Because we couldn’t fit the box through the bedroom door, we had to carry the body out and into the living room and then put it in the casket. I knew what was going to happen. I had a pretty good idea. Like, most people are just shocked at the concept of doing something like that because they had never witnessed it before or been part of it, but everybody was so eager to help and pitch in. In bringing his brother’s body for the last ride, Chuck was able to connect with his brother’s community of friends and include them in the process, which resulted in a positive experience for all of them. 81 Charlie’s wife also died at home and his care for her body after death was continuous until she was buried in a green cemetery, not far from their home. Charlie referred to his wife’s funeral as a three-day home funeral, and then he recalled how the morning of her burial went. There was not a ceremony, no. A couple of people, my brother and his wife, were here, and a friend came over; and so, we were the people that were around on the morning the day we took her to the cemetery. We drove up to the cemetery, and there were about 25 people showed up there at the cemetery. A green cemetery, of course, and we took her coffin over to the grave site. After the death of his father where Charlie felt he really missed the opportunity to care for his father’s body through to disposition, it was important for him to remain with is wife until she was buried. Providing the final ride to the cemetery allowed Charlie to provide continuous afterdeath care to his wife. Richard had three significant stories related to the last ride. The first story was related to his grandmother. Four weeks after her death, Richard’s grandmother was transported from Williams Lake to Calgary for burial in her casket that Richard had built. The transport of her body was done by Richard’s uncle and aunt. Upon returning from their trip, some of his aunt’s friends told her that they felt it was weird and morbid that she had personally transported her mother-in-law’s body. Richard’s aunt’s response was significant. And then she said something that actually was one of those gems of truth that stayed with me when I had my other experiences. She said that she was with family at every significant period. Every significant event in her life. Why would this be any different? Like why would we let strangers transport her? It wasn't because of 82 money. It had nothing to do with money. Saving money, or whatever. It was a natural thing to do. When Richard’s son died, there was a connection to what he had learned about the transport of his grandmother’s body and a desire to travel to Calgary himself and bring his son home. Richard recalls events from his trip with his sons, And this was where I was a bit bat-shit crazy because I didn’t borrow somebody else’s vehicle. I put him on the roof rack of our Subaru. [laughing] And, [to] my oldest I said, “I need you to come with me because I need a second driver”. And that was the other aspect, I didn’t want to go down with anyone else except for my kids. But I asked my oldest because he had a driver’s licence, and I trust him. I needed another driver. I know I’m not going to be sleeping. If I need to pull over to rest, you can drive or whatever. So, I didn’t give him the option. And, he gracefully agreed. So, the other two I gave options… it ended up being the three of us. So, one of the two other sons chose to come along… You know the timing is kind of a little bit of a blur to me. But then we started heading home with my two kids; and about somewhere between Canmore and Lake Louise, I kind of had an “oh shit” moment because we had only tied down the box, by two straps to the roof rack. And so, your brain kind of goes to the what if. Like, what if the weight rips the roof mounts or whatever. I think at the time, you know my son was driving. So, I told him to slow down. You know drive 80 kilometres an hour, and then we went into Lake Louise. I left the kids in the car, and I went to the outdoor store to see if they had some tie down straps. And funny enough, the first thing that I see when I walk in the store, was a disk or a Frisbee. And, we had had to drive by, and I decided to spend a bit of 83 time, at the crash site cause it was on the way to Calgary on the way there, and it was a bit heavy. And on the way back I wanted to kind of shift the perspective a bit. And my son loved playing disc sports, right. Ultimate. So, I knew that this would kind of help us kind of shift that energy. I picked up the tie down straps, and we ended up strapping him through the cab of the vehicle. Like kind of roll the windows down a little bit. I knew for sure, apart from losing the entire roof of the vehicle, that things were good. Ultimately, this was the last ride for Richard and his son. This road trip to bring him home also provided opportunities for Richard to connect with his two other sons and help them to process the grief associated with their brother’s death. After his final funeral, Richard’s son’s last ride to the crematorium was also significant for Richard. Richard described this final ride to the crematorium from Prince George to Vanderhoof, That one-hour trip was very significant. And again, I knew it wasn’t going to be me. I had invited his mom and his mom didn’t want to participate in that. So, it ended up being his next oldest brother and my son’s girlfriend. And interestingly enough, we probably left the church almost an hour after they left and got to the funeral home before they were there. So, I have no idea. Like, they literally took two-and-a half hours to make a one-and-a-quarter-hour trip. And I know that they went through the drive through at the A & W. I heard bits and pieces, but there were other parts that I was never privy to, which was fine. For Richard, it was important to provide his children with opportunities to grieve the death of their brother. Providing the space for his son to take on the task of taking his brother for that last ride was also significant. 84 From the stories and firsthand accounts of participants’ experiences with death rituals, it is clear that these rituals were influential to their experiences. While casket building was the focus of this study, it became clear that participants engaged in various death rituals outside of casket building such as utilizing grave goods, body care, and the last ride. Each of these death rituals provided opportunities for those mourning the loss of their loved ones to engage with their emotions related to grief in tangible ways and were integral aspects of the experiences of participants. Theme Three: The Importance of Relationships Casket building for a loved one was often linked to the relationship with and care for the dead; however, equally as important, and central to the experience was relationships with the living. Three connections to the importance of relationship included community connections, personal connections, and acts of intimacy. Participants indicated that casket building was not just about grief and loss but also about creating opportunities related to relationships with the living. The experiences and stories of participants linked to the theme, the importance of relationships, follow. When Anneka’s friend died in an avalanche in a work-related incident, Anneka was notified by his employer (a family friend) before anyone else. She was tasked with going to his home and notifying his wife and teenage daughter. While Anneka was with his wife and daughter, Anneka’s children started notifying their community of the death. When the police arrived later that night to provide formal notice of her friend’s death, the family’s home was already full of community members that were there to offer support, so the professional Victims Services support was not required. The community support did not end on the night of his death. Anneka tells the story of what happened next, 85 With him, too, we built the box. We made it waterproof, and we loaded him into a van and took him to Terrace for cremation; but we needed multiple community events. The other thing we did with him was his house was unfinished. They had a tiny little log cabin, and they were adding on to it so they could live there, and it was highly unfinished. They had it closed in at lock up which means windows and doors, but no interior. No exterior, you know, there's nothing on the outside like siding and stairs weren't built. Drywall wasn’t up, all aspects. So, we did probably a six-monthlong work bee to get the house finished. But it started with the coffin building. And from there, it was like this is great, this was an awesome thing for us to do together, what else do we do? And what else do we do? and what else do we do? Until their house was built. And so, the story of building the casket morphed into how the community came together and completed the building of her friend’s home to support his family after his death. For Richard, allowing opportunities for others to engage with their grief was central to much of his decision making around how things were done when his son died. His first concern was that his other sons have opportunities to grieve their brother, and then he also discussed that he needed to leave space and opportunities with his son’s community to actively engage with their grief. Richard did this when he dropped off his son’s casket and some hand sanding blocks with his son’s friends and had them help finish the casket. Richard recalled the importance of community in his son’s final funeral. I think the other really profound piece that I remember was at the end of the service, I had quoted my cousin who had spent some time in Tunisia. And he said, “you know, in the Middle East, it’s really, really important that everyone has the opportunity to 86 touch the box. So, there is no such thing as a pallbearer, you know six pallbearers formality and all that. That doesn’t fit. So, at the end of this we are going to grab the box from the side hall; and we are going to bring it to the church, to the front of the church. And whomever, it needs to get from here to the pickup truck that is parked out front”. And, I knew I wasn’t gonna do it. And then after that, I said “My job is done”. And I just walked out of the church. And, I never actually saw what it looked like having his box kind of come out of the church. But apparently, one of my old bosses said, “You know, I hardly ever go to church; and I would never, you know, pull out my phone in church, but I had to”. Because she had to take a video of this box just kind of floating out of the church. And, you know, lots of people chose not to, but so many people were just wanting to tangibly touch that box as it kind of went out. And, it actually shows that when you provide people with the opportunity to connect, with the opportunity to do the tough stuff in whatever, however, they are comfortable, they do want to participate. They do want to be involved. But more often than not, it’s the industry saying we will do this for you. We will do this for you. They would have had him on a wheeled gurney that would literally, it would take one person to push him as opposed to physically lifting it and being solid pine, and he’s like 180 pounds. I mean there is some weight there… Going down to Calgary, organizing that, there was so much on my mind, but there were pieces of it that I just could not carry anymore. And its this idea of delegation. But more than that, at this point with all of the boxes that I have helped people build. You know that philosophy of less is more. The less that I do, the more that they get to engage in. 87 For Richard, including the community was two-fold—he knew that he could not carry all the responsibility to care for his son on his own, but he also knew that relying on his community would provide them with opportunities to engage in their collective grief over the loss of his son. Every participant had at least one story related to how casket building played a role in the personal connections they had after the death of a loved one. Richard was the only participant who discussed facing criticism of his family’s decision to engage in casket building where distant in-law family members were concerned it made the family look cheap—as if they could not afford to purchase a casket for their loved ones. Richard equated this response to their own insecurities and a superficial view of what the casket building actually entailed. Outside this one negative report, the participants shared many positive stories about the ways casket building allowed them to create personal connections with others. While Charlie built his wife’s casket on his own, her casket and her body sat in his home for three days while people came to visit. During that time, people took part in adorning her casket with their artwork or writing notes on her casket. Charlie shared his perception of that special time he had spent with others who were also mourning the death of his wife in their own ways. And for all three days, not early in the morning, probably around noon people would start wandering in. But they would come over and bring something to eat or drink often. But just meeting people, having conversations, telling stories, I mean it was a wonderful time. During the home funeral, Charlie was able to interact with others and make meaningful, personal connections. 88 Because she was a part of their lives, not in the same way she was part of mine, but she was somebody they knew and or they had some connection to her. And so, that kind of a wake, maybe you call it, was allowing them to express their grief too. The shared expression of emotions was helpful to Charlie. Anneka also spoke about the importance of shared grief in her experiences with casket building. She stated, “It’s so beneficial to healing, to growing together, to strengthening your family and friend bond; and it’s one of those things that you almost have to feel to fully comprehend how that works”. Additionally, Anneka spoke to the ways casket building helps to mend strained relationships. Because I think that people came to some kind of peace through the building. Because now, let’s say you had a quarrel with a person who is there. As you do, you have to work together; you can’t avoid that person. Let’s say you are in an avoidance situation with a certain person, and then here they are at the coffin building. You have to kind of bury it. Right. Over whatever your grievance is and be present for what you are here for. It dissipates some of the tension that people still carry. Because you have to put it aside, and you learn to put it aside for this event. So, you are not burning with your anger or your outrage at this other person anymore. And, once you put it aside, it kind of stays that way because it’s exhausting to carry that for people. While Anneka saw the ways that casket building impacted people’s experiences with grief, she also saw that it impacted their interpersonal relationships and created space for people to make amends. 89 When Richard’s friend Agnes was terminally ill, her son was not ready to engage in conversations about building his mother’s casket. Two weeks before Agnes’s death, she had taken a trip with Richard and her son to Vanderhoof. On that trip Richard and Agnes talked about casket building and dying, not in relation to her death but just in general, and her son was still not comfortable with broaching the topic. However, after Agnes’s death on the trip to the crematorium in Vanderhoof, her son was able to engage in conversation about his mother’s death. Richard talked about that experience of driving to the crematorium after leaving the hospice. And, as we're heading out of town, it's like we need to have coffee; and so we go through the drive through at Timmy's. And the end of this, pine box is sticking out. And then I said, I gotta take a picture of this. Agnes, Agnes would love this. [laughter] and so I took a picture of this just as we're heading out of town. And it was so profound because here her son and I, who had taken the trip two weeks previously, were now in a totally different context within an extremely short period of time, and we both had our partners to support us. And so, the processing that took place during that, you know, over an hour trip, I think was huge. And, his partner said, “You know, six months later,” she said, “he would not be at the place that he was if it weren't for that support and that building of the box.” Even though Agnes’s son did not actually work on the building of the box, he assisted with lining he box with hay and loading her body into the casket and transporting her to the crematorium and found the experience helpful because of the conversations and personal connections he was able to make during that time. 90 Intimacy was discussed in two out of the four interviews in relation to caring for the deceased. Intimacy among the living was also discussed in relation to working on caskets or providing death care jointly with another person. While body care was discussed in three interviews, only two of the participants referred to body care as an act of intimacy, and yet it was clear that for those who experienced it, final acts of intimacy with the dead were significant to their experiences with the death of a loved one. Chuck spoke first about feelings of intimacy when talking about caring for his dad’s body as he and his brother were loading his dad into the casket from the morgue. So that really brings you close to it [experiences with death] when you talk about building a box or a casket. And I know that a lot of folks are not comfortable with that. But what I did see was my one brother, he told the story. I’ve watched him tell the story to others about how, how wonderful the experience was doing it. It's really just that final act of intimacy. It’s just so intimate to be able to do that for a loved one within a family. Both Chuck and his brother were able to identify how that final act of caring for their dad’s body left them with feelings of intimacy and closeness with their dad. In Richard’s experiences with his grandmother’s body, he witnessed his mother’s struggle to provide care for her mother after death. I remember standing there with my mom, and she looked uncomfortable; and I said mom, “what's wrong” and she said, “You know Grandma never wore her sweater that way”. [laughing] Somebody else dressed her… and I kind of scoffed, and I said, “Mom, like unbutton it”. Yeah right, touch, touch the dead person. She would have, you know, kind of wiped some soup off of her at the old folks’ home if that was 91 required. Like that level of love and caring and intimacy and connection, they had that. There is an, all of a sudden, it’s like because they’re dead, and as soon as she kind of undid a few buttons and interestingly enough, rolled up some tissue in her sleeve. She always had tissue in her sleeve. [laughing] And all of a sudden, her whole-body language just relaxed. And I'm curious, to this day, what would have happened because she was at the other viewing, how that would have just been a niggling feeling for her about Grandma, kind of the funeral home not quite understanding how to dress Grandma properly. And not speaking up or not saying anything or whatever. In Richard’s example, it was important for him to share permission with his mother to engage in acts of intimacy with her deceased mother when her cultural norms made physically touching the dead difficult. Relationships were central to each participant’s experience with the death of their loved ones. Every participant had at least one story to tell that related to community connections. These connections ranged from Chuck’s brother’s friends assisting with moving his brother’s body after his death to Anneka’s story of how the community helped her friend finish building her house. Additionally, in participants’ experiences, relationships between the living were enhanced by bonds developed in caring for the deceased. Finally, two out of four participants clearly articulated feelings of intimacy both with the deceased and others who had assisted them with providing death care. Theme Four: Maintaining Wellness As participants told stories related to their casket building experiences, the notion of resilience became apparent. In the interviews, the participants recounted many stories related to 92 death and grief, and they shared opportunities of resiliency. Grief and loss were always part of the story as they were integral aspects of coping with the death of a loved one. However, casket building as a form of an alternative death care encouraged and provided direct opportunities for people to engage with their grief in tangible ways, which in turn promoted wellbeing in the face of a highly disruptive event. What follows are the participants’ accounts of how they maintained wellness while experiencing grief related to the death of their loved ones. In his interview, Charlie talked about how he felt his wife’s home funeral was a gift from her to him. He felt that the home funeral helped him cope with his grief more effectively than his experience with the death of his father where the body was whisked away and the processing of the death came to an abrupt stop. Charlie talked about coping with the grief after his wife’s death and stated, “The only way, the best way, to get rid of any emotion is to express it. And probably the two best ways to express it are by saying something or in some kind of a physical action like building the coffin”. Charlie recognised that there was a connection between the physical act of building the casket and his expression of grief. While Chuck had many experiences with casket building, what really stood out as an important part of the process for him was physical contact with his loved ones after their deaths. While building the casket was important, he really defined the most helpful moments of his experiences as being the times where he was physically handling his loved one’s bodies and placing them into the casket. He recounts that experience. “There's nothing wrapped up in anything but direct experience. This is what I have. This is what I'm touching. This is what I have in my hand. There's no denying what is going on”. For Chuck, there was a comfort in the clarity attached to the physical care of the bodies that allowed him to clearly understand what 93 death meant to him and the knowledge that his loved ones no longer inhabited their bodies. Therefore, he felt it was okay to let their bodies go. While reviewing her experiences with building caskets for loved ones, Anneka was clear that casket building had made her feel like she had honoured her loved ones. She recalled this feeling when talking about her experiences with Anne’s casket, Yes, yeah, and so that stayed with me forever. I felt better. We felt like we did right by her. Her wishes were, spending money on a coffin is stupid, just so you know. And like what’s wrong with you; if you can make breakfast, you can make a coffin. Anneka knew that Anne would have been proud of their ability to learn to build the casket and developing that skill was part of honouring her friend. Additionally, Anneka spoke about the way casket building provided a venue for expression without requiring people to vocalize their feelings. So, there are all kinds of nonverbal stuff that happens. I might have read that people communicate with words only, like only like ten percent is through words and the rest is through our bodies. That’s how we are and that is so true. So, being with people doing a thing, gives you space to observe them, so you are not hung up on the words. And, you are not hung up on whatever that part is that may be very imperfect in expressing how you feel. Because we are not perfect at how we express ourselves. If you have the time to observe people in their grief with you, you can see that they are with you. And, you are looking down the same road together; and you are comrades. And, at the base of it all, you are together. 94 Anneka also broached the concept that resilience related to death comes from knowing your feelings of grief are shared by others and that working on a casket together allows people to experience a witnessing of joint grief. While Richard has experienced substantial grief in his own life, his discussion about resilience and wellness traveled back to the work he had done assisting others to build caskets for their loved ones. He felt that empowering people to engage with their grief was an integral aspect of casket building that promoted resiliency. It’s this aspect of engaging in your grief in a containable way. And even in the most horrific circumstances if you have the opportunity to help build the box, even something as simple as sanding it, and somebody else has done everything else. Or filling in the nail holes, as I said my cousin’s kids got to do. There is some sense of participation. Some sense of contribution and connectedness of the journey as apposed to death being something that is observed like something that is out there and choreographed for you, externally. Richard had observed the way participating in the building of a casket provided a way out of the “stuckness” that people often feel when they have no way to interact with their grief. While the death of a loved one is often a difficult experience, participants also reported that there was space for joy and celebration amongst their grief. Anneka reported that she often looks back on her experiences building caskets for her loved ones as some of the best times in her life. “Often, because they were the best of times for me. Truly, are some of the best community times that I’ve had”. Amidst the grief, Anneka reported that she also experienced connection and had fun while working with others to build caskets for her loved ones. 95 At several points in our conversation, Chuck talked about having fun in the process of caring for his deceased loved ones. He remembered the story of loading his father into the casket with his brother at the morgue. He died in the hospital so that was easy. His body just went to the morgue. We showed up with our half ton and our casket in the back, and we went in and made the transfer. So, of course, the three of us were handling this body; and we were all kind of like [pause]. One thing that I discovered of course is that when we die, well it’s like we’re asleep. And if you think that your toes kind of point. So, then rigor mortis has set in. So, we are trying to get him in the box, which I had measured the right length, but now he is three inches taller. [laughter] So, there are all these adjustments we had to make, and as we’re, had the body in the box and going to put the lid on, I said “Just a minute”, and I leaned down to look across the top of the casket and sure enough, his nose was sticking up about a half an inch, so that wasn’t going to work. [laughter] So we wiggled him some more. So, we were just having a hoot doing this. We, we were having so much fun laughing and with all this shared intimacy. Chuck’s story shows how just because a person is feeling grief over the death of a loved one does not mean there is not also room to find space for joy and fun. Richard and Charlie both spoke about how people came together to celebrate while the bodies of their loved ones were being cared for at home. Charlie felt that the gathering in his home allowed for a different type of interaction than if the funeral had have happened in a funeral home. 96 You know when you had people around for a very long time and it wasn't just the somber kind of a mood that you would have if you were in a funeral home. I mean we're sitting around drinking beer or wine and laughing and telling stories. For Charlie there was an opportunity to celebrate the stories of his wife’s life. Richard also felt that there was an element of celebration around the gathering preparing his grandmother’s casket for burial in Calgary at his aunt and uncle’s house. So fast forward that it was actually their house that we met at where Grandma was put in the garage, and we actually had to mount all of these 4-by-6 oak plaques because they were coming from all over. Right, and so the family was coming from all over and all of a sudden, it's a party. It’s this family event like not a formalized planned party, but there's food and there is storytelling, and you know in the main room. As expected, participants expressed sadness and feelings of profound loss related to the death of their loved ones. There was also an element of joy related to the way they were able to connect with others and share their experiences after the death of their loved ones. Participants shared many stories related to how engaging in building a casket and caring for their deceased loved ones helped them to maintain wellness during a difficult time. They felt that they were able to express and experience emotions not just through conversations, but also through actions. Chuck’s dialogue about physically handling his loved ones’ bodies and gaining an understanding that the essence of what made them human was no longer there was extremely powerful. This experience was what allowed Chuck to know it was okay to let their bodies go. Additionally, participants shared that casket building and providing death care provided them with feelings that they had done everything they could to respect and honour their loved ones. 97 Chapter 5: Discussion The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of individuals who built a casket for a loved one. The objectives of providing a platform provided participants an opportunity to share their experiences with others, to understand the ways casket building created resilience or barriers for those experiencing grief, and to understand how casket building can be used in social work practice for those experiencing grief. The data tabulated in the research findings section clearly articulated that casket building played an integral role in participants’ experiences after the death of a loved one. In relation to the literature review, I connect the findings outlined in Chapter 4 with the related academic research. The first section explores connections between the research findings and the literature followed by the implications for practice, areas for future research, and a conclusion. Research Connections All four participants clearly articulated that before their engagement with casket building and to varying degrees, they had experiences with that led to a desire for something different from services offered by the death industry. Anneka and Charlie had negative experiences with the deaths of their loved ones that led them to seek alternative death care experiences where they could be more involved. Richard had observed patients’ ways of coping with death in his workplace and had chosen casket building, as one option that made sense to him. Chuck always had a positive outlook related to death but was drawn to casket building by a memory of an image of a wake he saw as a young man. As a result of their experiences, the participants had strong desires for autonomy and practicality over the care of the bodies of their loved ones. When someone experiences the death of a loved one, they often feel pressure from society to approach grief in specific ways. “Bereaved individuals often experience profound 98 social pressure to conform to societal norms that constrict the experience of grief rather than support it” (Harris, 2010, p. 1). However, the participants in this study were drawn to engage with an action outside the traditional norms that accompanied the after care of their loved ones. The participants leaned into the experience—used their skill sets to empower themselves and cast-off disparagement of mourning by building caskets, handling the bodies of their loved ones, hosting home funerals, and participating in the disposition of their loved ones’ bodies. Death is a fundamental aspect of being human. While society embraces the thought that death is an exceptional experience, Erickson (2017) reminds readers that death is a normative experience. The participants’ perspectives in this study were that casket building and caring for the bodies of their loved ones was a normative practice. This was clearly delineated when Richard described his mother’s hesitation to adjust his grandmother’s clothing while she laid in her casket. He helped his mother feel comfortable; and she adjusted the clothing on her mother’s body, as he normalized touching of a dead body. She struggled to touch her mother’s body because of the social taboo associated with the touching of a dead body. Once Richard encouraged her to adjust the clothing, she relaxed because she felt that her mother’s body was in order. This experience was possible given Richard’s belief that physically interacting with a body after death was a normative practice. Similarly, Anneka transported the bodies of her loved ones from the morgue to the crematorium, which was a three-and-half-hour drive. Charlie cared for his wife in their home for three days post her death and personally buried her in a green cemetery. Chuck retrieved his brother’s body from his home after death, placed him in the casket, and transported him to the crematorium. Richard traveled to Calgary to bring his son’s body home to Prince George, hosted a wake for his son, and personally processed his son’s 99 cremains. Each of these stories outlines the ways in which participants chose to engage with the death of their loved ones and lean into heir experiences with grief because they each disclosed that it was what they needed to do. Sanders (2010) describes services rendered by funeral homes as commodified services and Theron (2013) identifies the work of funeral homes as “unwanted” services. While death care is a mandatory aspect of civilized society, it is generally reserved for morticians and delivered as a service with fees owing. Those who pay others to perform death care may or may not reflect on these services as unwanted; however, the participants in this study were drawn to providing personalised death care to their loved ones and building caskets. Rather than possibly feeling begrudged about the experiences, they described how they had brought personal value and energy to the death-care process. This desire to do things differently, connects to what Williams (2010) referred to as the “politics of doing it yourself” there is a sense of self sufficiency in personally providing death care for a loved one. While no participants clearly articulated their experiences with casket building as an opposition to capitalism, there were threads of pragmatism that has ties to lifestyle movements that promote social change as discussed by Haenfler, Johnson, and Jones (2012). Three of the participants created businesses related to casket building and the fourth participant continues to build caskets for friends and family members—thus, establishing lifestyle connections to their experiences with casket building. When asked to provide descriptors of their experiences with casket building, participants offered the following: journey, community, wholesome, intimate, generous, honouring, satisfying, rewarding, reflecting, necessary, and fun. The desire to do things differently ultimately led participants on a journey into death care for their loved ones that 100 included, but was not limited to, the building of a casket. The participants all described engaging fully in after-death care. It was interesting to learn that the participants shared many rituals related to the process of casket building. In fact, the data clearly showed that building the casket was an integral step in assuming responsibility for the bodies of their loved ones. After building a casket, each participant retained the body of their loved one for a period of time outside the death care industry. This was an unexpected outcome of the research, and yet it is significant to the experiences of participants. Norton and Fransesca (2014) believe that death rituals provide people with a sense of control over grief, and it was clear that casket building provided a starting point in the death care process but also offered the individual participants control over the disposition of their loved ones’ bodies. Having the bodies in their care allowed them to actively participate in the experience of grieving the death of their loved ones. The materials used to build the caskets and the effort exerted to personalize them represented additional actions that honored the deceased and aided in the grief experience. Two out of four respondents articulated the importance of the materials utilized to build the caskets. One participant communicated his desire to build caskets that were environmentally friendly and the other sought materials to construct a casket that would represent a family tree with a liveedged foot board and a section of Russian pine from the birthplace of the deceased. Ramshaw (2010) discusses the importance of personalisation in death rituals to the experience of mourners. His research has shown that there is a connection between post modernism where individualism is celebrated, and the comfort mourners feel related to the representation of the deceased in the ritual. When Charlie created space for others to come and adorn his wife’s casket, they were free to embody her casket with images that represented what she meant to them. When her friend 101 arrived and created a piece of art with his wife’s name on the casket lid, the friend was participating in a death ritual. When Chuck built the casket for his nephew’s father-in-law, someone painted an intricate scene on the lid that represented the activities the deceased enjoyed. Each of these aspects of the casket building journey encompassed death rituals that promoted healing for the family and friends. Linked to the personalisation of caskets, participants also spoke about the importance of including objects in the caskets of loved ones. There was no mention of the monetary value of these goods, but rather they were emotionally significant to the mourners in ways that showed a connection to the deceased. Harper (2012) discusses how possessions often become symbols of a person’s personality and often find their way into the person’s casket as a representation of who they were. When Richard told the story of retrieving the nonorganic pieces from his son’s cremains, he said it was significant because those pieces “very much embodied some of his personality”. With a smile, Chuck shared that he included a pack of cigarettes and some whiskey in his mother’s casket. Charlie and Anneka spoke about written messages for their loved ones with the realization that words carried a connection between the author and the deceased. The inclusion of grave goods was an integral aspect of the participants’ experiences in honoring their loved ones and aided in the grieving process. Luddeckens (2018) believes that death rituals offer those who are mourning a chance to, “deal with death through action”, in order to shield themselves from feelings of helplessness (p. 109). Richard moved from one death ritual to the next rather systematically after his son’s death. He built a casket, traveled to retrieve his son’s body, held a wake, planned a funeral, engaged in the disposition of his body, and processed his cremains. Richard clearly stated that he did not feel helpless after his son’s death because he was consistently engaging with the next step 102 of what needed to be done. Upon reviewing the data, it was clear that Richard’s next step was often an action-based death ritual that helped him process grief. When Anneka delivered flowers to funeral homes, she often witnessed men who appeared awkward which she contributed to their inability to engage with grief. The men appeared stifled by not having a purpose at the funeral. Similarly, when Anneka’s friend and mother figure (Anne) passed away she engaged in the ritual of building her casket. She engaged with the loss of her loved ones in a physical way that helped her deal with her sorrow. In essence, she was, “leaning into her grief” and coping with her loss in active ways. All participants had a similar recollection of how participating in the various active death rituals allowed them to engage with their grief. Relationships with the living and the renegotiation of relationships with their deceased loved one were central themes represented in the data. Each of the participants told stories about how casket building was connected to their relationships with both the living and the deceased. Participants readily discussed the importance of sharing their grief with others who had suffered similar losses. However, the discussion about maintaining connections with the dead were stated more subtly. Several participants shared stories about the re-negotiation of the relationships with their loved ones post death. Chuck articulated how handling the bodies of his loved ones helped him realize that the essence of his loved ones was no longer contained in the bodies after death. Chuck described the physical difference in a dead body in relation to the texture of the skin and the temperature, which provided a clear biological reasoning that the mortal was no longer present. Chuck stated that handling the body provided him the opportunity to recognise that the person is deceased, and he wanted to be clear that the physical reality of death was okay. Romanoff and Terezio (1998) discuss how death mandates the living to reconstruct their 103 relationships with the dead from one that is tangible to one that is defined by memory and meaning. When Chuck touched the bodies of his loved ones, the necessity of moving his relationship from one with a living being to one with someone who was no longer physically present was a concrete action rather than an abstract experience. Continued contact with the body of the deceased after death allowed time for the bereaved to begin to re-negotiate and regulate the understanding that death has occurred. Three out of four participants highlighted the importance of the body in assisting them to accept the reality of the loss of their loved ones. This acceptance aligns with the view of Romanoff and Terenzio (1998) who stress the importance of re-framing life after the death of a loved one rather than pushing those who are grieving to return to normalcy. In their experiences, all study participants discussed the importance of maintaining relationships with the living. Building the casket was not just about caring for their deceased loved ones, but it also included opportunities to interact and build relationships with others who were still living. O’rouke et al. (2001) linked feelings of satisfaction related to funeral attendance to people’s ability to connect socially with those who were grieving the same loss. When speaking about experiences with casket building, Anneka recalled the importance of working with others towards a common goal during times of grief, even if there were no words expressed. The connections allowed her to feel a sense of comradery. Charlie talked about the value of story telling at his wife’s funeral and how the stories left space for both tears and laughter with others who were collectively grieving the loss. He stated that the best way to move emotions was to express them and that being with others who were also grieving encouraged everyone to engage in that process. 104 Feelings of intimacy were expressed both in relation to the deceased and among those who were directly involved with the bodies of the deceased. Chuck spoke about caring for his loved ones’ bodies and placing them into caskets as a “final act of intimacy”. He recalled positioning his father’s body in the casket as a time where he and his brother shared feelings of intimacy and joy. Richard also spoke about his experiences as a casket maker in the broader community and how working on a casket with others created a sense of intimacy amongst the living who were joined in the task. Without utilizing the word intimacy, Anneka also described intimacy when working with others on a casket for a loved one—it strengthened the bond between family and friends by encouraging people to heal and grow together in a way that could only be understood if experienced personally. From these disclosures, intimacy was expressed as a core aspect of casket building’s impact on relationships. One of my research objectives included the exploration of whether casket building created resilience and/or barriers for those who are grieving. None of the participants reported negative implications related to their engagement in casket building. Richard was the only participant who discussed negative reactions to his family’s engagement with death. In one circumstance, extended members of his family felt that building a casket was “cheap and gauche”. Richard tied their concerns to the fact that they fought their whole lives with the perception that they were “less than others” and that their response was an extension of those feelings. Additionally, when his family chose to transport his grandmother’s body in their own vehicle from Williams Lake to Calgary, family friends found this to be “weird and morbid”. And yet, the travel time was valuable for Richard as he connected his feelings with his grandmother’s and son’s body during the transport. For Richard, the importance of transporting the bodies of loved ones was connected to the desire not to leave them alone. Family had played an integral 105 role in their lives both while they were living and in death. Richard’s responses to these reactions are an example of the resilience casket building brought to him. However, all participants spoke about their involvement in casket building as a way to maintain wellness in the midst of their experiences with grief and the death of their loved ones. When Anneka attended her friend’s home to inform her that the friend’s husband had been killed in an avalanche, her friend asked what they needed to do next? At first, Anneka struggled to answer the question. However, the answer came to them as the community embraced the family and walked through the steps of caring for their deceased friend and his family together. In this circumstance, the casket building morphed into a six-month work bee to help their friends finish the construction of their home. Annika’s experience led her to the creation of a pamphlet to assist others who were left facing the question of what to do next after the death of a loved one. Each participant spoke to the ways engaging with casket building provided them with a skill set related to what needs to be done when faced with the death of a loved one. As Richard stated, “trauma sticks when people feel helpless” and casket building provides those enmeshed in grief with a way to participate in their grief, creating a resilience to the feelings of helplessness that accompany the trauma of death. Shmidt (2002) outlined the importance of recognising the positive aspects of growth that may arise from grief. One positive aspect identified in the data was participants’ recognition that they had embraced their grief rather than retreated from their grief, which led to a better understanding of their personal experiences with death. Resilience is not about being brave, ignoring emotions, or pushing through struggles but rather about maintaining wellbeing. The participants intentionally chose to be fully present during times of grief. 106 The next section outlines how my findings may apply to the practice of social work. Implications for Practice Social workers practice in diverse environments; and it is important that when they encounter clients who are dealing with death and dying, they acquire a basic level of understanding of what it means for their clients to experience death. According to Erickson (2017) basic death competence is instrumental to support the dying and the bereaved. Erickson (2017) stated, My goal in surfacing it here is to properly label it as competence and to highlight the significance of this practical knowledge as powerful. I hope that what end of life workers at both ends of the occupational sector know will find channels and inroads into American culture as ambiguous dying becomes not phenomenal but normative (abstract). The participants in this study each engaged with casket building, body care, and the deaths of their loved ones in ways that caused them to lean into death and death care as a normative aspect of life. It encouraged them to grieve in action through death rituals that each participant found helpful. The notion of being humanly connected to death and dying involved a willingness to develop competence in practice engagement that was not necessarily mainstream. Being able to recognise death as a normative life experience is part of acquiring death competence as a social worker engaged with clients facing death and grief. Social workers must hold space for their clients to fully engage with the struggles they experience in grief without actively working with the intent of easing the pain of the client but rather to support a client’s desire to fully engage with their own personal context of death and grief. Social workers must remain mindful of their own values and beliefs connected to death, 107 dying, and grief and how it may impact a client’s wishes. Exploring the experiences of others to better understand ways of knowing and being in grief are fundamental to meeting the needs of an array of clients from different cultural, socioeconomic, religious, and spiritual backgrounds. Practical applications for performance related to social work that can be disseminated from this research in relation to working with clients who are coping with death and grief include: being mindful that death and grief are normative human experiences; providing knowledge of the benefits of engaging with death rituals; being comfortable with clients’ desires to lean into grief rather than retreating from it; and understanding that some clients may wish to engage with the death of their loved ones outside the commercial death care system. These practical applications may encourage social workers to function as more competent practitioners in environments where death and grief are substantive. Areas of Future Research Engaging in larger-scale research related to casket building would be valuable. These studies could potentially include more participants with greater diversity related to ethnicity, culture, gender, and socio-economic status to explore if there are differences between these groups of people. Additionally, a quantitative study to determine how many people are engaging in casket building would be beneficial. The research in this study showed that three out of four participants had a role as a casket maker outside providing caskets for loved ones. Understanding the role of the small-scale casket maker in context to community support for people facing the death of a loved one would be significant to understanding how casket builders may transition into supporting the broader community. 108 This study drew a clear connection between casket building and resiliency. Areas of my personal life that I think contribute to my overall resiliency to adversity are in relation to farming, gardening, and food preservation. I would like to learn if there is a connection between acquiring resilience by learning traditional life skills. Conclusion The participants in this study discussed their experience with casket building in positive ways and described their experiences as foundational aspects to their wellbeing during a time when they were coming to terms with the death of a loved one. The participants’ decisions to engage in death rituals such as casket building, body care, providing loved ones with a last ride, and aspects of body disposition were generally well received and supported by other members of their families and their communities. Relationships with the dead as well as the living were integral to the effectiveness of the participants’ choices to engage with death care outside the death care industry. It was clear that participants’ choices to lean into their grief by utilizing death rituals including casket making was a powerful and effective way for participants to move through the initial days after the death of their loved ones. Social workers have much to learn about the act of supporting those mourning the loss of a loved one to leaning into their grief through practical application of grief rituals that are meaningful and tangible to the bereaved. In the experiences of the participants in this study, the opportunity to care for their loved ones after death was seen as a foundational task related to grieving as well as a way of providing respect for their loved ones. The participants chose to engage in casket building not because it was easier or less costly but because it connected them to a final experience of providing care for their deceased loved ones. 109 This study has provided authenticity and an academic voice to the work of those who engage in casket building. Their experiences are validated and utilized to support those who choose to follow in their footsteps. The study encourages social workers, if necessary, to step outside their comfort zones and engage with clients in ways that are viewed as non-traditional in order to best meet the needs of the individual populations they serve. 110 References American Psychiatric Association, (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5 th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Audebrand, L. K., & Barros, M. (2018). All Equal in Death? Fighting inequality in the contemporary funeral industry. Organization Studies, 39(9), 1323–1343. Baldwin, P. K. (2017). Death Cafés: Death Doulas and Family Communication. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X), 7(2), bs7020026. Barker, R. (2014). The Social Work Dictionary (6 ed.). Washington: National asspciation of social workers press. Bartlet, Ruth & Riches, Gorden. (2007). Magic, secrets, and grim reality: Death work and boundary management in the role of the funeral director. Illness, Crisis, and Loss, 15(3), 233-243. Beard, V. R., & Burger, W. C. (2017). Change and innovation in the funeral industry: A typology of motivations. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 75(1), 47-68. Becker, E. (1973). The denial of death. New York: Free Press. Benson, P., & Kirsch, S. (2010). Capitalism and the politics of resignation. Current Anthropology, 51(4), 459-486. Berger, Peter L., & Thomas Luckmann. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Bonanno, G. (2004). Loss, trauma, and human resilience. Have we underestimated the human capcity to thrive after extremely aversive events. American Phsychologist, 59, 20-28. British Columbia Association of Social Workers. (2011). BCASW code of ethics. Retrieved from bcasw.org: http://www.bcasw.org/about-bcasw/casw-code-of-ethics/. 111 Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa. Calhoun, L. G., Tedeschi, R. G., Cann, A., & Hanks, E. A. (2010). Posative outcomes following bereavment: Paths to post traumatic growth. Psychologica Belica, 125-143. Canadian Association of Social Workers. What is Social Work? Retrieved May 21, 2020, from https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/what-social-work-0. Canadian Association of Social Workers. Social Work & Primary Health Care. Retrieved May 21, 2020, from https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/social-work-primary-health-care Canadian Association of Social Workers. What is Social Work? Retrieved May 21, 2020, from https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/what-social-work. Canadian Electronic Library (Firm). (2018). Framework on palliative care in Canada. Ottawa, ON, CA: Health Canada. Christianbery, T. (2017). Interviews and qualitative research. Nurse Author & Editor (Blackwell), 24(7), 1-7. Creswell, J. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications, Inc. Dictionary.com. (2020). Definition for coffin. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/coffin?s=t. Dodge, R., Daly, A., Huyton, J., & Sanders, L. (2012). The challenge of defining wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 222-235. Erickson, K. A. (2017). Knowing Death Well: Intimate and contextual death competence among end-of-life laborers. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 46(6), 647-672. 112 Emke, I. (2002), “Why the sad face? Secularization and the changing function of funerals in newfoundland”, Mortality: Promotion the Interdisciplinary Study of Death and Dying, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 269-284. Encyclopedia Britannica (2021). American civil war united states history. Retrieved March 8, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War. Fawcette, J. (2017). Thoughts about nursing conceptual models and the “Medical model”. Nursing Science Quarterly, 30(1), 77-80. Fusch, P. I., & Ness, L. R. (2015). Are we there yet? Data saturation in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 20(9), 1408-1416. Gellie, A., Mills, A., Levinson, A., Stephenson, G., & Flynn, E. (2015). Death a foe to be conqured? Questioing the paradigm. Age and Ageing, 7-10. Gentry, James W., Patricia F. Kennedy, Katherine Paul and Ronald Paul Hill. 1995. The Vulnerability of Those Grieving the Death of a Loved One. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 14 (Spring): 128–142. Hagerty, Alexa. (2014). Speak softly to the dead: The uses of enchantment in American home funerals. Social Anthropology, 22(4), 428-442. Hare, I. (2004). Defining social work for the 21st century: The International Federation of Social Workers’ revised definition of social work. International Social Work, 47(3), 407 424. Hall, Lauren. (2017). Rehumanizing birth and death in America. Society (New Brunswick), 54(3), 226-237. Harding, S. (1987). Introduction: is there a feminist method? In S. Harding (Ed.), Feminism and methodology: Social science issues (pp. 1-14). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 113 Harper, S. (2012). ‘I’m glad she has her glasses on. that really makes the difference’: Grave goods in English and American death rituals. Journal of Material Culture, 17(1), 43-59. Harris, D. (2010). Opression of the bereaved: A critical analysis of grief in western society. Journal of Death and Dying, 60(3), 224-253. Harvey, Jeff. (2001). Debunking myths about postmortem care. Nursing, 31(7), 44-45. Haenfler, R., Johnson, B., & Jones, E. (2012). Lifestyle movements: Exploring the intersection of lifestyle and social movements. Social Movement Studies, 11(1), 1-20. Heath Canada. (2018). Framework on palliative care in Canada. Ottawa, ON, CA: Health Canada. Heimbecker, John. (1995). Final purchase growing demand: The Canadian funeral services industry. Ottawa Ont.: Ministry of Industry. Hobart, K. R. (2008). Death and dying and the social work role. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 181-192. Hogan, N. S., & Schmidt, L. A. (2002). Testing the grief to personal growth model using structural equitation modeling. Death Studies, 615-634. Hunt, Mathew (2009). Strengths and challanged in the use of interpretive description: Reflectionsarising from a study of the moral experiences of health professionals in humanitarian work. Qualitative Health Research, 19(9), 1284- 1292. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Care at the End of Life. Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life; Field, M.J., Cassel, C.K., Eds.; National Academies Press: Washington, DC, USA, 1997. Available online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK233601/ (accessed on 1 December 2020). 114 Jamshed, Shazia. (2014). Qualitative research method-interviewing and observation. Journal of Basic and Clinical Pharmacy, 87-88. Kliem, S., Lohmann, A., Moble, T., Kroger, C., Brahler, E., & Kersting, A. (2018). The latent nature of prolonged grief - A taxometric analysis: Results from a representative population sample. Pshychiatry Research, 400-405. Kiernan, S. P. (2006). Last rights rescuing the end of life from the medical system. New York: St. Martin's Press. Knifton, Christopher. (2019). A socio-history and genealogy of dementia through and conceptualization in western society. [Doctoral dissertation, De Montfort University]. EThOS. Kopp, S. W., & Kempe, E. (2007). The death care industry: A review of regulatory and consumer issues. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 41(1), 150-173. Korai, B & Souiden, N. (2017), "Rethinking functionality and emotions in the service consumption process: the case of funeral services", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 247-264. Laderman, Gary. (2000). The Disney way of death. The American Academy of Religion. 68(1), 27-46. Luddeckens, D. (2018). Alternative death rituals in Switzerland: Bulding a community of shared emotions and practices. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 107-121. Macmillan Dictionary. (2021). Method definition and synonyms. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/method?q=methods. 115 Macmillan Dictionary. (2021). Methodology definitions and synonyms. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/methodology?q=methodologies Mandel, N. & Smeesters, D. (2008), “The sweet escape: the effect of mortality salience on consumption quantities for high and low self-esteem consumers”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 35, 309-323. Merriam-Webster. (2020). Definition of Funeral. Retrieved February 9 , 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funeral. Merriam-Webster. (2020). Defintion of death care. Retrieved February 9, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deathcare. Nam, I. (2017). Restoration-focused coping reduces complicated among older adults: A radomized controlled study. The European Journal of Phsychiatry, 93-98. Miles, Lizzy. & Coor, Charles. (2017), “Death Café: What is it and what can we learn from it”, Journal of Death and Dying, Vol. 75(2), 151-165. Neimeyer, R. A., Klass, D., & Dennis, R. M. (2014). A social constructivist account of grief: Loss and narration of meaning. Death Studies, 485-498. Neumann, C. B., & Neumann, I. B. (2015). Uses of the self: Two ways of thinking about scholarly situatedness and method. Millennium Journal of International Studies, 798-819. Norton, Michael, L., & Francesca, Gino. (2014). Rituals alleviate grieving for loved ones, lovers, and lotteries. Journal of Experimental Psychology. 143(1), 266-272. Olsen, P. (2016). Domesticating deathcare: The women of the U.S. natural deathcare movement. Journal of Medical Humanities, 1-21. 116 O'rouke, T., Spitzenberg, B. H., & Hannawa, A. F. (2001). The good funeral: Toward an understanding of funeral participation and satisfaction. Death Studies, 729-750. Peterson, J. H. (2019). Presenting a qualitative study: A reviewer’s erspective. Gifted Child Quarterly, 63(3), 149. Poulter, G. (2011). What’s traditional about “the traditional funeral”? Funeral rituals and the evolution of the funeral industry in Nova Scotia. Journal of The Canadian Historical Association, 22(1), 113-159. Ramshaw, E.J. (2010). The personalization of postmodern post-mortem rituals. Pastoral Psychology 59, 171–178. Rawlings, Deb., Litster, Caroline, Miller-Lewis, Lauren, Tieman, Jennifer., & Swetenham, Kate. (2019). The voices of death doulas about their role in end-of-life care. Health and Social Care in the Community, 28(1), 12-21. Rawlings, Deb., Tieman, Jennife., Miller-Lewis, Lauren, & Swetenham, Kate. (2018). What role do Death Doulas play in end-of-life care? A systematic review. Health and Social Care in the Community, 27(3), 82-94. Reamer, F. (2018). Social work values and ethics (5th ed.). New York, NY: Columbia Press. Reeves, N. C. (2011). Death acceptance through ritual. Death Studies, 35(5), 408-419. Roberson, K., Smith, T., & Davidson, W. (2018). Understanding death rituals. International Journal of Childbirth Educaton, 22-26. Romanoff, Bronna, D, & Terenzio, Marion. (1998). Rituals and the grieving process. Death Studies, 22(8), 697-711. Sanders, G. (2010). The dismal trade as culture industry. Poetics, 47-68. Schwandt, T. A. (2000). Three epistemological stances for qualitative inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 189-214). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 117 Sheafor, B. W., & Horejsi, C. R. (2012). Techniques and guidelines for social work practice (9th ed.). New Jersey, NJ: Allyn & Bacon. Shear, M. K. (2015). Complicated grief. The New England Journal of Medicine, 153-160. Singh, K. (2007). Research Process. In K. Singh, Qualitative social research methods (pp. 6287). New Dehli: Sage Publications, India. Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2004). The cultural animal: Twenty years of terror management theory and research. In J. Greenberg, S. L., Koole, & T. Pyszczynski (Eds.), Handbook of experimental existential psychology (pp.13-34). New York: Guilford Press. Sorabella, Jean. (2011) A Roman sarcophagus and its patron. Metropolitan Museum Journal, (36), 67-8. Stebbins, R. A. (2001). Qualitative research methods: Exploratory research in the social sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Schwandt, Thomas (2015). The sage dictionary of qualitative inquiry. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Strauss, A. L., 7 Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptutal foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 1-15. Tharp, Brent. (1996) “Preserving their form and features”: The role of coffins in the American understanding of death. [Doctoral dissertation, College of William and Mary]. Scholarworks. 118 Theron, E. (Ed.). (2013). Satisfaction in the unwanted services industry: The special case of funeral directors. Proceedings of 8 th Annual London Business Research Conference, London, UK. Thorne, S. (1997). Phenomenological positivism and other problematic trends in health science research. Qualitative Health Research, 7(2), 287-293. Thorne, S. (2008). Interpretive description. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Thorne, S. (2014). What constitutes core disciplinary knowledge. Nursing Inquiry, 21(1), I 2. Thorne, S. (2016). Interpretive description: Qualitative research for applied practice (2 nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Thorne, S., Stephens, J., & Truant, T. (2016). Building qualitative study design using nurse's disciplinary epistemology. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(2), 451—460. Tracy, S. J. (2013). Qualitiative research methods: Collectinvve evidence, crafting anyalysis, comminicatung impact. Chichester: Blackwell Publishing. Trompette, P. (2007). Customer Channeling Arrangements in Market Organization: Competition Dynamics in the Funeral Business in France. Revue Française De Sociologie, 48, p. 3-33. van Walsem, Rene. (2014). From skin wrappings to architecture the evolution of prehistoric anthropoid wrappings to historic architectonic coffins/sarcophagi; separate contrasts optimally fused in single theban ‘stola’ coffins (+975-920BC). In Initial, Rogerio Sousa (Eds.). Body, cosmos, and eternity: New trends of research on iconography and symbolism of ancient Egyptian coffins (pp. 1-28). UK: Archaeopress Archaeology. Williams. Kristen (2010), Old time mem'ry": contemporary urban craftivism and the politics of doing-it-yourself in post-industrial America. Utopian Studies, 22(2) 303. 119 Zibaite, S. (2020), "The jovial aesthetics of the death-positivity movement: Notes on the appeal of playfulness in activism", Coward-Gibbs, M. (Ed.) Death, culture & leisure: Playing dead (Emerald Studies in Death and Culture), Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.157- 172. 120 Appendices Appendix A: Information and Consent Documents 121 122 123 124 125 Appendix B: Interview Questions 1) What was it about casket building that initially drew you into the process? 2) What were your experiences with death and dying before your experience with casket building? What have your experiences been since? 3) Can you tell me about the person whom you built the casket for? What was your relationship like? What kind of a person were they? 4) Tell me about the process of building the casket. 5) How, if at all, do you feel casket building has impacted your relationships with others? 6) How long has it been since you first engaged in casket building? Do you feel that casket building encouraged you to develop a sense of resilience? Why or Why not. 7) What kind of memories do you have about the time during which you were engaged in building the casket? Do you think about this often? 8) In what ways, if any, did casket building encourage you to actively engage with your grief? 9) In what ways, if any, do you feel your experiences with death, dying, and grief have been impacted by casket making? 10) If you could describe your experiences with casket building in three words, what would they be? 126 Appendix C: Tri Council Certificate 127 Appendix D: Research Ethics Board Approval Documents 128