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Funerary Service Professionals and the Death Issue

This paper deals with the death issue in funerary workers' everyday work. Funerary professionals have work conditions of physical and psychic risks with the possibility of burnout development. There is work overload, contact with the mourning families without training for those tasks. They did not choose their profession; they do not receive capacity building or class representation. They are regarded with mistrust when there are charges on the work or if there is time lag to carry out needed courses. Factors that may turn their work difficult are analyzed: violent deaths, suicides, deteriorated corpses, and children. We consider those workers as caretakers of the dead and of mourning families. Ways of caring for those professionals are discussed: mourning, families, expression of feelings and rituals, and responding to personal questioning as well. Information and clarifications were provided on modalities of personal care and psychological attention.

Death; Education related to death; Attitudes in face of death; Death rites


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