Bereavement Following Substance Misuse

Valentine, Christine; Bauld, Linda; Walter, Tony

doi:10.1177/0030222815625174

Cited by 64 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…For those bereaved through substance use, there are additional difficulties concerning both the system for processing such deaths and how the bereaved are treated Walter, Ford, Templeton, Valentine, & Velleman, 2017). Indeed, service users have reported very mixed, including insensitive responses from a range of practitioners, possibly reflecting the hidden and largely overlooked status of these bereaved people use Valentine, Bauld, & Walter, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service failures and challenges in responding to people bereaved through drugs and alcohol: An interprofessional analysis

Valentine

McKell

Ford

2017

Journal of Interprofessional Care

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This article reports findings from the first two stages of a three-stage qualitative study which considered the role of services, including public, private and charitable organisations, in responding to the needs of adults bereaved following the drug and/or alcohol-related death of someone close. The study, the first of its kind to explore the landscape and role of services in substance use deaths, was conducted over two sites: south west England and Scotland. In stage 1 of the research, adopting both convenience and purposive sampling, data were collected via semi-structured interviews on experiences and support needs of bereaved individuals (n = 106). In stage 2, six focus groups were conducted with a purposive sample of practitioners (n = 40), including those working for the police, coroner's service, procurator fiscal depute (Scotland), health service, funeral service, press, clergy, Public Health England, Drugs Policy Unit, bereavement counselling/support and alcohol and drug treatment services, to investigate how services may better respond to this bereavement. Thematic analysis from both data-sets identified two overarching themes. The first, focusing on practitioner responses, captures how these bereaved people may meet with inadequate, unkind, and discriminatory responses from services. Having to navigate unfamiliar, fragmented, and time-consuming procedures compounds the bereaved's distress at an already difficult time, illustrated by a 'mapping' of relevant services. The second relates to challenges and opportunities for those responding. Service failures reflect practitioners' poor understanding of both substance use bereavement and the range of other practitioners and services involved. Those bereaved are a poorly understood, neglected and stigmatised group of service users. There is a need for services to respond without judgement or insensitive language, and provide information about, communicate and work closely with, other services despite differences in working practices and cultures. These recommendations could positively affect bereaved peoples' experiences, alleviating stress and overwhelm at a particularly vulnerable time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Service failures and challenges in responding to people bereaved through drugs and alcohol: An interprofessional analysis

Valentine

McKell

Ford

2017

Journal of Interprofessional Care

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“…, Grace ), of which three are very small, have hitherto researched how families cope after such a death (Valentine et al . Forthcoming).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compassion or stigma? How adults bereaved by alcohol or drugs experience services

Walter

Ford

Templeton

et al. 2015

Health Soc Care Community

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What is known about this topic• Compassion is central to good health and social care.• Scandals have highlighted lack of compassion, especially towards stigmatised and/or vulnerable service users.• Structural reforms to services can undermine or enhance compassion. What this paper adds• Stigma and 'othering' undermine compassion.• Compassion, stigma and professionalism may be linked theoretically.• Irrespective of structural reform, small acts of kindness based on symbolic kinship reduce service users' experiences of stigma. AbstractHow to promote compassionate care within public services is a concern in several countries; specifically, some British healthcare scandals highlight poor care for service users who may readily be stigmatised as 'other'. The article therefore aims to understand better the relationship between stigma and compassion. As people bereaved by a drug-or alcohol-related death often experience stigma, the article draws on findings from a major British study, conducted during 2012-2015 by the authors, of people bereaved in this way, in order to see how service provision can be improved. One hundred and six bereaved family members were interviewed in depth about their experiences of loss and support. Thematic analysis developed theoretical understandings of participants' lived experiences. This article analyses our data on how bereaved people experienced stigma and kindness from practitioners of all kinds. We found that stigma can be mitigated by small acts of kindness from those encountered after the death. Stigma entails stereotyping, othering and disgust, each of which has emotional and cognitive aspects; kindness entails identification and fellow feeling; professionalism has classically entailed emotional detachment, but interviewees found cold professionalism as disturbing as explicit disgust. Drawing on theories concerning the end of life, bereavement and emotional labour, the article analyses the relationship between stigma, kindness and professionalism, and identifies some strategies to counter stigmatisation and foster compassion.

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“…Jo's experiences mirror the findings of the small amount of research, both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, which has been conducted in this area (Valentine, Bauld, & Walter, 2016). Given continued wider public health and societal concerns about levels of alcohol-and drug-related mortality (Office for National Statistics, 2017a, 2017b), it is disappointing that there has been so little research conducted with those who are bereaved by such deaths.…”

Section: Understanding Bereavement Through Substance Usementioning

confidence: 83%

“…Third, the findings from the two studies suggest that this is a particular form of disenfranchised grief (e.g., Valentine et al, 2016). Disenfranchised grief has been defined as "grief that persons experience when they incur a loss that is not or cannot be openly acknowledged, socially sanctioned or publicly mourned" (Doka, 1989, p. 4).…”

Section: Understanding Bereavement Through Substance Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Developing Peer Support for Adults Bereaved Through Substance Use

Standing

Dickie

Templeton

2018

Illness, Crisis & Loss

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The impacts of a bereavement through substance use are many and profound and include guilt, loneliness, stigma, and mixed responses from professionals and others. It seems that those who are bereaved in this way have a particular and unique experience of grief, which many feel is disenfranchised. Support needs to be credible as well as effective, yet up until now little specialist help has been available. In particular, help from a peer who has been there brings authenticity, can lead to the sense of a safe space where those bereaved feel listened to in an empathic manner, and permit the expression of grief which is often disenfranchised. The article is structured around the experiences of someone bereaved through alcohol use who went on to volunteer for a peer support project. Her powerful testimony articulates the wider findings of two recent United Kingdom projects (one includes the peer support project) conducted by the authors.

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Bereavement Following Substance Misuse

Cited by 64 publications

References 61 publications

Service failures and challenges in responding to people bereaved through drugs and alcohol: An interprofessional analysis

Service failures and challenges in responding to people bereaved through drugs and alcohol: An interprofessional analysis

Compassion or stigma? How adults bereaved by alcohol or drugs experience services

Developing Peer Support for Adults Bereaved Through Substance Use

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