Millions of people worldwide are mourning the loss of loved ones due to the COVID-19 epidemic, which may adversely impact their mental health. This metaanalysis aimed to investigate pandemic grief symptoms and disorders for developing policy, practice, and research priorities. The databases of Cochrane, Embase, Ovid-MEDLINE, WHO COVID-19, NCBI SARS-CoV-2, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Science Direct were comprehensively searched until July 31, 2022. The Joanna Briggs Institute's and Hoy's criteria were used to evaluate the studies. A pooled prevalence was presented in a forest plot figure with a corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) and prediction interval. Between-study heterogeneity was measured using the I 2 and Q statistics. Variations in the prevalence estimates in different subgroups were examined by moderator meta-analysis. The search identified 3677 citations, of which 15 studies involving 9289 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence rate of grief symptoms was 45.1% (95%CI: 32.6%-57.5%), and grief disorder was 46.4% (95%CI: 37.4%-55.5%). Grief symptoms were significantly higher in <6 months (45.8%; 95%CI: 26.3%-65.3%) compared to the period of more than 6 months. Unfortunately, moderator analyses for grief disorders could not be performed due to limited studies. The prevalence of grief problems during the pandemic was substantially higher than in non-pandemic conditions; therefore, it is crucial to strengthen bereavement support to reduce psychological distress. The results provide a foundation for nurses and healthcare workers to anticipate a heightened need for support and provision of bereavement care in the post-pandemic era.

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This study proposed a robot-assisted digital storytelling approach to reduce hospitalized children's anxiety about intravenous injections and to improve their therapeutic communication and therapeutic engagement. In order to verify the effectiveness of the robot-assisted digital storytelling approach, a randomized controlled study was implemented. A total of 47 children from a regional hospital were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 21) and a control group (n = 26). The experimental group adopted the robot-assisted digital storytelling approach in health education for intravenous injections, while the control group received video-based health education. The study results indicated that the proposed robot-assisted digital storytelling approach not only reduced the children's anxiety, but also had positive effects on children's communication about intravenous injections, emotions during hospitalization, and therapeutic engagement. As a consequence, it is suggested that educators and researchers consider adopting robot-assisted digital storytelling to facilitate nursing clinical health education for children.