In-Hospital Bereavement Services as an Act of Care and a Challenge: An Integrative Review

Boven, Charlotte; Dillen, Let; Block, Lieve Van den; Piers, Ruth; Noortgate, Nele Van Den; Humbeeck, Liesbeth Van

doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.10.008

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Partnering with community resources could meet the unique needs of the parents within that community. A multidisciplinary approach to bereavement care that draws in the expertise of pastoral services, child life specialists, social workers, bereavement doulas, and community-based palliative care approach can mitigate the budgetary and personnel restrictions bereavement care services currently experience 36 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Parental Bereavement Interventions

Dias,

Floyd,

Ramkumar

et al. 2024

J Hosp Palliat Nurs

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The untimely death of a child is an incredibly traumatic experience for parents and their loved ones. It uproots every aspect of their life, leading the bereaved parents to be far more likely to have poorer physical and mental health outcomes. This traumatic form of bereavement should have comprehensive grief-focused, high-quality interventions available for parents and extended family members. The purpose of this rapid review was to explore and describe the bereavement interventions available for parents and family that have been published within the past 5 years. Records identified 123 full-text articles that were reviewed, and 14 of those were included for data extraction and synthesis, using Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group with the addition of keyword searches. The 14 articles were analyzed by evaluating description of bereaved parents, accessibility of interventions, who delivered interventions, and the type and delivery time of interventions. Four types of interventions were identified, including Web-based, community-based, hospital-based, and psychotherapy interventions. This rapid review has implications for clinical practice, research, and health care policy that can increase the availability of support and quality of interventions for bereaved parents and family members.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Parental Bereavement Interventions

Dias,

Floyd,

Ramkumar

et al. 2024

J Hosp Palliat Nurs

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“…This cross-sectional study with a small sample of family members recently bereaved due to cancer found that families are mostly satisfied with end-of-life care. About two thirds indicated to receive bereavement support reflective of evidence-based recommendations, such as acknowledgement, validation, and information on dying, grief and available support [ 41 ]. Support was received from many different health professionals who had– according to family members high interpersonal skills [ 42 , 43 ], with nurses and medical office assistants being a core support source for them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

End-of-life and bereavement support to families in cancer care: a cross-sectional survey with bereaved family members

Thaqi,

Riguzzi,

Blum

et al. 2024

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Losing a close other to cancer is an incisive experience that occurs after a long course of illness and intense family caregiving. Despite an evident need for family engagement and support and guidance on this, patients and family members may not receive the attention and support they need when a family unit is experiencing a disruption by death. A clear understanding of the quality of care that is currently provided and its ability to address family needs is necessary to improve end-of-life and bereavement support to families affected by cancer. The purpose of this study is to investigate the quality of support of end-of-life and bereavement care to families, their (un)met needs, grief experiences, and self-perceived health outcomes. Methods A multi-center, cross-sectional observational survey study with family members (n = 35) whose close other died of cancer in a health institution or their own home in German-speaking Switzerland. Results Bereaved family members were mostly satisfied with end-of-life care. Information on the grief process and services, and acknowledgment of their grief was experienced as helpful. Most coped with their grief drawing on family resources and exhibited resilience, but they reported unmet needs in relation to family togetherness and caregiving. Conclusion This study with a small number of family members indicates that support provided to families across settings and illness trajectories is perceived as helpful, with specific needs related to family support. The findings suggest that improvements should focus on ensuring care that addresses the family as a unit and enables togetherness, mutual reflection, meaningful relationships, preparedness for death, resilience, and benefit-finding. Protocol registration https://osf.io/j4kfh.

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“…These findings are in line with previous literature demonstrating that support for family caregivers is provided ad hoc and depends on circumstances, preferences, and intuition of individual healthcare professionals. [8][9][10][11][12] The identified barriers in this study, such as the experienced discomfort of healthcare professionals when dealing with family caregivers or not feeling responsible for their wellbeing, limited knowledge and conversational skills, and shortage of resources, help to understand why support for family caregivers is not part of routine practices. These results correspond with previous literature in more specific target populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[5][6][7] However, previous research also shows that support for family caregivers is under-resourced in many healthcare settings, and that there is often no system in place to offer support to all family caregivers. [8][9][10][11][12] More detailed information on what support is provided by individual healthcare professionals is needed to understand current practice. An understanding of what hinders and what facilitates supporting family caregivers is needed to improve it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practice of Supporting Family Caregivers of Patients with Life-Threatening Diseases: A Two-phase Study Among Healthcare Professionals

Hoffstädt

Boogaard

Tam

et al. 2022

Am J Hosp Palliat Care

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Background: Although support for family caregivers is an essential component of palliative care, routine provision of such support is often lacking. To improve support for family caregivers, we assessed current practice and influencing factors as perceived by healthcare professionals. Methods: A two-phase study was conducted including a survey exploring healthcare professionals’ practice of supporting family caregivers in Western urbanized Netherlands in 2017, and focus groups exploring facilitators and barriers to supporting family caregivers in 2018. Focus group data were thematically analyzed with deductive coding based on the COM-B system. Results: Of the 379 survey respondents (response 11%), 374 were eligible (physicians, 28%; nurses, 64%; nurse assistants, 9%). The respondents practiced in academic hospitals (52%), general hospitals (31%), nursing homes (11%) and hospices (5%). They reported to always (38%), most of the time (37%), sometimes (21%) or never (5%) provide support to family caregivers during the illness trajectory. Respondents reported to always (28%), sometimes (39%), or never (33%) provide support after death. Four focus group discussions with 22 healthcare professionals elicited motivational facilitators and barriers to supporting family caregivers (e.g., relationship with family caregivers, deriving satisfaction from supporting them), and factors related to capability (e.g., (lacking) conversational skills, knowledge) and opportunity (e.g., (un)availability of protocols and time). Conclusions: Support for family caregivers, especially after the patient’s death, is not systematically integrated in working procedures of healthcare professionals. The barriers and facilitators identified in this study can inform the development of an intervention aiming to enhance support for family caregivers.

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In-Hospital Bereavement Services as an Act of Care and a Challenge: An Integrative Review

Cited by 17 publications

References 68 publications

A Review of Parental Bereavement Interventions

A Review of Parental Bereavement Interventions

End-of-life and bereavement support to families in cancer care: a cross-sectional survey with bereaved family members

Practice of Supporting Family Caregivers of Patients with Life-Threatening Diseases: A Two-phase Study Among Healthcare Professionals

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