5.3.3 Strengthen the continuity of support for the bereaved

care setting, which is also reflected in our qualitative interviews: If asked for my suggestions, perhaps the TWGHs could allocate additional funding and increase human resources for the Be-with service, because from what I know, their team doesn’t have too many workers. Therefore, sometimes, maybe there are many bereaved persons in need, applying for this service; it is very difficult for them to be everywhere at once; they will be overwhelmed. Hence, adding another position to this team could also support the bereaved better (Recipient 7, Male, 41–45 years old). No mention was made that bereavement care has long been marginalized in mainstream services, due to the Chinese cultural taboo of discussing death. Based on such discrepancy we found between the past and the current Hong Kong social welfare system, we suggest that the Social Welfare Department review its assumption about bereavement support and recognize the unique immediate needs of bereaved persons while processing the complicated post-death procedures in Hong Kong. Although this implication may seem rather obvious in most social welfare policy and practice fields, it is important to note that, for the field of bereavement-related policy and practice, a public health approach is in its infancy. Before the service gap is fixed, workers in a non-governmental organization might also have to adopt various strategies, including effective use of existing human resources and cultivating volunteers, which might help to provide appropriate funeral support to newly bereaved persons and reduce their workload in response to the complicated needs of clients.

5.3.3 Strengthen the continuity of support for the bereaved

Grief is a lifelong process. Through a mixed-research method, the current study has provided further support for the need to strengthen the continuity of support for bereaved individuals in Hong Kong, not only for supporting the funeral/post-death tasks but also along the continuum of bereavement support. The need for cooperation of everyone involved in doing death work has never been greater (Aoun et al., 2018), and the wish of our participants asking for further bereavement support after the funeral has reinforced this claim. In addition to the current practice framework, bereaved persons suggested that the Be-with service offers continuing grief support after the funeral, including cremation. This implies that service recipients sincerely wish to talk about the loss and share their grief with others, especially when the workers of the Be-with service can be readily accessed within their current social support networks. Hence, our findings suggest that while accompanying the service recipients handling funeral/post-death affairs, the workers also need to make use of the administrative part to include more therapeutic elements as grief care. Taking various views and our findings into consideration, referring the service recipients to other appropriate services seems to be the most effective approach. It is clear that the Be-with service has an explicit role in the period immediately after loss. Therefore, referring the service recipients to longer-term bereavement counseling for follow-up offers a suitable solution. The workers could refer older bereaved recipients to DECC, to enhance community support after the loss of a key family member in later life.