Bereavement care for the non-bereaved

This article outlines key approaches for a health promoting approach to end-of-life care. Although direct service provision for end-of-life care and bereavement are crucial to any public health approach to dying, death and loss, a broader public health approach – one that targets people in good health and outside acute episodes of need – is also vital to building a community's capacity for resilience and self-care. The approaches described in this article include community development, death education and social marketing, partnerships between statutory services and communities, local policy changes and critical reflection. International examples of these approaches are described with the aim of stimulating discussion and debate about their potential and worth in bereavement care.