University student death response plans using a structural management approach provide effective coordinated institutional action

Authors

Anne Cusick, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

38744

Publication Details

Cusick, A. 2008, 'University student death response plans using a structural management approach provide effective coordinated institutional action', Death Studies, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 550-587.

Abstract

Student death is an inevitable event in the long life of university communities. Although student death is uncommon, universities need to be able respond in a timely and appropriate way to bring the relationship with a deceased student to a dignified close. This article presents a review of factors previously identified in higher education and death studies literature to be useful inclusions in any university=college death response plan. It proposes that management frameworks underpin effective institutional responses to student death as they provide the organizational context for coherent multi-disciplinary action within complex policy, campus and departmental arrangements. The article reports on the development of a university death response plan that took a ‘‘structural’’ approach derived from the discipline of management, to the mobilizing, coordination and monitoring of resources relevant to student death in a multi-campus multidisciplinary environment.