Building Community Capacity in Bereavement Support

Breen, Lauren J.; Aoun, Samar; Rumbold, Bruce; McNamara, Beverley; Howting, Denise; Mancini, Vincent

doi:10.1177/1049909115615568

Cited by 40 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…They also appreciated accessing the information in their own time. This is consistent with others who reported that most bereaved individuals benefit from receiving appropriate written information or brochures . This type of written support has been shown to provide a sense of certainty and security for families .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Family members' opinions about bereavement care after cardiac intensive care unit patients' deaths

Erikson

Puntillo

McAdam

2019

Nursing in Critical Care

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Background: Critical care consensus groups recommend providing bereavement support; however, little is known about what cardiac intensive care patients' families would find useful and beneficial in their grieving process.Aim and objectives: To describe cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) patients' families' opinions on six common components of a bereavement programme.Design: Qualitative, exploratory and descriptive.Methods: Families were recruited from a cardiac ICU 13-15 months after their loved one's death. Families were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The research team analysed interview transcripts to assess and categorize families' opinions on six bereavement components.Results: Twelve family members were interviewed. Most were female (n = 8, 67%), spouses (n = 10, 83%) and white (n = 10, 83%), with a mean age (SD) of 58.4 years (16.7). Families' overall opinions of the bereavement brochure were positive, stating it was helpful in providing information about the grieving process. Families described the sympathy card as "meaningful" and "touching," although they rated it neutral in providing comfort. Most participants felt that a follow-up telephone call was unnecessary except to answer lingering questions they had. Many participants favoured the unit offering counselling services because they found therapy helpful in their grieving process. Participants had mixed feelings about a memory box; they believed it was an individual preference and should be handled in a sensitive manner. Most would not have attended a memorial service if offered because of traffic, distance, concerns about stressful feelings on returning to the hospital or because they already honoured their loved ones through a personalized memorial service. Conclusions: Participants varied in their opinions about what bereavement services may be useful; however, this study provides insight about services that cardiac critical care units may consider when adding bereavement support. Relevance to clinical practice: Family perspectives about bereavement needs can help structure services offered by critical care units. K E Y W O R D S adult intensive care, bereavement, families, grief

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Family members' opinions about bereavement care after cardiac intensive care unit patients' deaths

Erikson

Puntillo

McAdam

2019

Nursing in Critical Care

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, it is clear that a considerable proportion of bereaved people experience isolation/lack of support and poor health, which they connect to the experience of being bereaved. [21][22][23] Sources of support and their perceived helpfulness Aoun and colleagues 1 concluded that, apart from everyone needing informal support from their social networks, more than two-fifths of people required some other form of bereavement support (35% community and 6% professional). More centrally, they noted that those most at risk of complications in grieving were accessing formal professional services and those at moderate risk were accessing community-based services.…”

Section: Impact Of Bereavementmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of bereavement support on wellbeing: a comparative study between Australia and Ireland

et al. 2020

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Background: There is a dearth of national and international data on the impact of social support on physical, mental, and financial outcomes following bereavement. Methods: We draw from two large, population-based studies of bereaved people in Australia and Ireland to compare bereaved people’s experience of support. The Australian study used a postal survey targeting clients of six funeral providers and the Irish study used telephone interviews with a random sample of the population. Results: Across both studies, the vast majority of bereaved people reported relying on informal supporters, particularly family and friends. While sources of professional help were the least used, they had the highest proportions of perceived unhelpfulness. A substantial proportion, 20% to 30% of bereaved people, reported worsening of their physical and mental health and about 30% did not feel their needs were met. Those who did not receive enough support reported the highest deterioration in wellbeing. Discussion: The compassionate communities approach, which harnesses the informal resources inherent in communities, needs to be strengthened by identifying a range of useful practice models that will address the support gaps. Ireland has taken the lead in developing a policy framework providing guidance on level of service provision, associated staff competencies, and training needs.

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“…In fact, we have previously reported that the majority of the bereaved in each of the 3 risk groups accessed support predominantly from family (95%) and friends (88%), followed by funeral directors (79%) and general practitioners (56%) [ 18 ], emphasized also in Fig 2 . Therefore, palliative care services might do better investing their efforts principally in (a) assessing and supporting family caregivers during the pre-bereavement period and (b) developing community capacity and referral pathways for bereavement care [ 18 , 25 , 40 , 41 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bereavement support for family caregivers: The gap between guidelines and practice in palliative care

et al. 2017

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BackgroundStandards for bereavement care propose that support should be matched to risk and need. However, studies in many countries demonstrate that palliative care services continue to adopt a generic approach in offering support to bereaved families.ObjectiveTo identify patterns of bereavement support in palliative care services based upon the experience of bereaved people from a population based survey and in relation to clinical practice guidelines.DesignAn anonymous postal survey collected information from clients of six funeral providers in four Australian states (2014–15), 6 to 24 months after the death of their family member or friend, with 1,139 responding. Responses from 506 bereaved relatives of people who had terminal illnesses were analysed. Of these, 298 had used palliative care services and 208 had not.ResultsMore people with cancer (64%) had received palliative care in comparison to other illnesses such as heart disease, dementia and organ failure (4–10%). The support for family caregivers before and after their relative’s death was not considered optimal. Only 39.4% of the bereaved reported being specifically asked about their emotional/ psychological distress pre-bereavement, and just half of the bereaved perceived they had enough support from palliative care services. Half of the bereaved had a follow up contact from the service at 3–6 weeks, and a quarter had a follow-up at 6 months. Their qualitative feedback underlined the limited helpfulness of the blanket approach to bereavement support, which was often described as “not personal” or “generic”, or “just standard practice”.ConclusionsTimeliness and consistency of relationship is crucial to building rapport and trust in the service’s ability to help at post-bereavement as well as a focus on the specific rather than the generic needs of the bereaved. In light of these limitations, palliative care services might do better investing their efforts principally in assessing and supporting family caregivers during the pre-bereavement period and developing community capacity and referral pathways for bereavement care. Our findings suggest that bereavement support in Australian palliative care services has only a tenuous relationship with guidelines and assessment tools, a conclusion also drawn in studies from other countries, emphasizing the international implications of our study.

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Building Community Capacity in Bereavement Support

Cited by 40 publications

References 39 publications

Family members' opinions about bereavement care after cardiac intensive care unit patients' deaths

Family members' opinions about bereavement care after cardiac intensive care unit patients' deaths

The impact of bereavement support on wellbeing: a comparative study between Australia and Ireland

Bereavement support for family caregivers: The gap between guidelines and practice in palliative care

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