Mental Images of Funeral Ceremony and Its Pre-planning: Mixed Methods Research

The study examined the phenomenon of funeral pre-planning behaviour in its connection with socio-demographic, cultural and psychological factors. Data collection and analysis is made in accordance with MMR qual-QUAN strategy. Three images of the funeral ritual, wich are relevant to the Russian urban population, was identified on the qualitative stage : religious (Orthodox), secular-religious and civil one. On the quantitative stage all of them were confirmed using the factor model. Also a causal relationship was found between the total pre-planning intensity and such determinants as sex and experience of other's funerals organization, as well the nature of the relationship between locus of control, attitude to death, cultural ritual, the "fear of the potentially possible tragedy" and closeness to relatives with one or more pre-planning directions was described. Among the initially considered six pre-planning directions, meaningful results are obtained only for four of them (transfer decision on the nature of the burial ritual and cultural aspects, preparation space in the cemetery, the implementation of savings to cover funeral expenses). The results refer to the death studies scientific field, reveal the essence of the role of man as the subject of the social situation of his own funeral, offer to consider the theme of social organization of funerals from a new perspective.