Knowledge Level of Health Care Providers about Complicated Grief during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dashti, Sareh; Najafi, Tahereh Fathi; Mohammadzadeh, Fatemeh; Kalat, Afsaneh Rezaei; Bahri, Narjes

doi:10.18502/ijps.v17i2.8905

Cited by 2 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In the American continent, 2,754,186 deaths were reported (Pan American Health Organization) [ 2 ], including 325,976 deaths reported in Mexico [ 3 ]. In addition to the high mortality rates during the pandemic, other factors, such as the risk of contagions, social isolation, and economic insecurity, precipitated mental health problems, including anxiety, stress, depression, posttraumatic stress symptoms [ 4 - 7 ], and an increased probability of developing complicated grief disorder (CGD) [ 8 ]. According to Wallace et al [ 9 ], the “COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted usual experiences of grief, and modifications of approaches to support grief are needed.” There is scarce evidence at this time about mental health interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic or about interventions specifically related to grief [ 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grief helps individuals adapt to the new reality [ 10 ]. Grief is an inevitable and painful experience in life with affective, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual manifestations [ 4 , 12 ]. Some of the most common symptoms include physical distress, sadness, anxiety, confusion, longing, rumination about the past, and fear about the future.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Manifestations and duration of grief vary widely, but symptoms are generally expected to improve within the first 2 to 4 months. Culture can affect the grieving period, mediating the relationship between grief and time to heal [ 4 , 13 ]. Other factors that can affect a person’s experience of grief are individual characteristics and the type of relationship they had with the deceased person, making the process more challenging to overcome [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the process of mourning may be interrupted for various reasons, for example, if the individual was not able to attend the deceased person’s funeral, if they do not entirely accept or they deny the loss, if the death was unexpected or violent, and if the individual experienced multiple losses at once or over a short period of time. In addition, people with a history of mental health disorders (eg, mood disorders or addiction) are more likely to develop CGD [ 4 , 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In turn, secondary and concurrent factors can make grief more difficult to overcome at this time, such as unexpectedly high mortality rates worldwide, isolation measures to prevent infections, intrahousehold tensions, worries about possible contagion and the availability of health care, the absence of farewell rituals, or the stigma surrounding COVID-19 patients and their families. These circumstances have generated instability in many domains, including social networks and relationships, finances, work, autonomy, safety, social roles, plans, recreation, and personal freedom, among others [4,[8][9][10]13,[22][23][24][25]. In the face of these deaths and secondary losses, the need for interventions to treat grief is evident [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial

Domínguez-Rodríguez¹,

Sanz²,

González-Ramírez³

et al. 2023

J Med Internet Res

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Background The death of a loved one was a challenge many people faced during the COVID-19 pandemic within the context of extraordinary circumstances and great uncertainty. Grief is an unavoidable part of life, and for most people, feelings of grief decrease naturally over time. However, for some people, grieving can become a particularly painful process with clinical symptoms that may require professional help to resolve. To provide psychological support to people who had lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic, an unguided web-based psychological intervention was developed. Objective The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the web-based treatment, Grief COVID (Duelo COVID in Spanish; ITLAB), in reducing clinical symptoms of complicated grief, depression, posttraumatic stress, hopelessness, anxiety, and suicidal risk in adults. The secondary aim was to validate the usability of the self-applied intervention system. Methods We used a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group (IG) and a waitlist control group (CG). The groups were assessed 3 times (before beginning the intervention, upon completing the intervention, and 3 months after the intervention). The intervention was delivered on the web in an asynchronous format through the Duelo COVID web page. Participants created an account that could be used on their computers, smartphones, or tablets. The evaluation process was automated as part of the intervention. Results A total of 114 participants were randomly assigned to the IG or CG and met criteria for inclusion in the study (n=45, 39.5% completed the intervention and n=69, 60.5% completed the waitlist period). Most participants (103/114, 90.4%) were women. The results indicated that the treatment significantly reduced baseline clinical symptoms in the IG for all variables (P<.001 to P=.006), with larger effect sizes for depression, hopelessness, grief, anxiety, and risk of suicide (all effect sizes ≥0.5). The follow-up evaluation showed that symptom reduction was maintained at 3 months after the intervention. The results from the CG showed that participants experienced significantly decreased levels of hopelessness after completing the time on the waitlist (P<.001), but their suicidal risk scores increased. Regarding the usability of the self-applied intervention system, the results indicated a high level of satisfaction with the Grief COVID. Conclusions The self-applied web-based intervention Grief COVID was effective in reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, risk of suicide risk, posttraumatic stress disorder, and complicated grief disorder. Grief COVID was evaluated by the participants, who reported that the system was easy to use. These results affirm the importance of developing additional web-based psychological tools to help reduce clinical symptoms in people experiencing grief because of the loss of a loved one during a pandemic. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04638842; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04638842

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial

Domínguez-Rodríguez¹,

Sanz²,

González-Ramírez³

et al. 2023

J Med Internet Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

Domínguez-Rodríguez¹,

Sanz²,

González-Ramírez³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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BACKGROUND The death of loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge people faced in this historical period. Although grief for most people is a natural process that resolves itself, for some, it becomes a painful process with clinical correlates that may require professional help for its resolution. We developed an unguided online psychological intervention to provide psychological support to people who lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of online treatment in reducing clinical symptoms of complicated grief, depression, post-traumatic stress, hopelessness, anxiety, and suicidal risk in adults. METHODS We used a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting list control group. The groups were assessed three times (before entering, after finishing the intervention, and three months later). As a secondary aim, we evaluated the usability of the system. RESULTS For the intervention group, the results indicated that treatment significantly reduced baseline clinical symptoms for all variables, with larger effect sizes for depression, hopelessness, grief, anxiety, and risk of suicide (all effect sizes ≥ 0.5). The participants in the control group significantly decreased hopelessness levels after the waiting list but increased their suicidal risk scores. The follow-up evaluation showed that symptom reduction was maintained. Participants rated the intervention as a highly usability system. CONCLUSIONS These results show the importance of developing online psychological tools to reduce clinical symptoms in people going through a grief process derived from the loss of a loved one in times of pandemic. CLINICALTRIAL Trial Registration: The study is registered in Clinical trials (NCT04638842).

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Knowledge Level of Health Care Providers about Complicated Grief during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 2 publications

References 25 publications

The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial

The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial

The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

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