National Origin of Your Client/Family Rites When Death Occurs
Thailand (population 95% Buddhist) Belief in reincarnation
Tunisia (population 98% Muslim) Muslim rites
Vietnam (population 60% Buddhist, 13% Confucianist, 12% Taoist, 3% Catholic, 12% other)
Death at home preferred Body washed and wrapped in white sheets Burial in ground
Source: Adapted from Geissler, E. M. (1994). Pocket guide: Cultural assessment. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. This material was published in the Pocket Guide to Cultural Assessment, Elaine Marie Geissler, Copyright Elsevier (1994). Adapted from Lipson, J. G., Dibble, S. L., & Minarik, P. A. (1996). Cultural and nursing care: A pocket guide. San Francisco: UCSF Nursing Press. Used with permission.
Table 6–6 continued
Table 6–7 Religious Groups and Death Beliefs
Religious Group
Is There a Heaven?
What Is Heaven Like?
Belief in Resurrection?
Recognition of Friends and Relatives
Is Cremation Allowed?
Assemblies of God
Heaven is a real place
A pleasant place
Of the body Yes Not encouraged
Baha’is Heaven designates spiritual proximity to God
An eternal spiritual evolution of the soul
Spiritual Yes No
Baptists A place where the redeemed go
Filled with mansions and golden streets
Physical Yes Allowed but not encouraged
Buddhists Numerous heavens
It has no independent existence
No future time is foreseen
See living friends and relatives but are not seen
Preferred
Churches of Christ
Dwelling place of God and future residence of the righteous
A realm of peace and love
Conscious- ness leaves body at death and takes rebirth until enlightened
Yes Permitted
Hindus A relative plane of existence to which souls go to after death
Dwellers in heaven enjoy long life and are free from thirst, hunger, and old age