The Grief Elaboration Process in the Pandemic Scenario: A Group Intervention (original) (raw)
Related papers
Complicated Loss: Lived Experience of Family Members Bereaved by COVID-19
CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research - Zenodo, 2022
This study explored the lived experience of family members bereaved by COVID-19. Qualitative research design with phenomenology as an approach was utilized in the study. This study generated ten (10) superordinate themes which were Sense of Disbelief and Sorrow; Intense and Ambivalent Feelings; Reliance on Family Support and Faith in God; Positive Coping Strategies; Working through Acceptance; Inner Self Change; Realization on the Value of Life, Faith, and Relationships; Positive and Transformative; Positive Outlook in Life; and Awareness of Reality through Negative Situations and Learned Lessons. COVID-19 has indeed altered the way people experience death, grief, and bereavement. Although this reality posed a challenge in the process of grief, bereaved family members still had positive outlook and strong disposition to accept, find meaning in the loss, and move forward in their lives amid pandemic. Finally, this study proposed a community-based bereavement care and psychosocial support program action plan for family members bereaved by COVID-19 to assist them in their grief journey.
Complicated Grief: The Lived Experiences of Those Bereaved By COVID-19
OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying
The morbidity and mortality rates of COVID-19 pandemic are increasing, and many families have lost their loved ones. This study explored the experiences of families living in Iran who lost a loved one to COVID-19. The researchers apply a descriptive phenomenological approach and draw on in-depth interviews with 18 family members who had lost at least one family member because of COVID-19. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s method. After reviewing and comparing the consistency of the codes, crisis in crisis, circumstances of death and its consequences, and lack of preservation of patient dignity were extracted as main categories. Neglecting grieving families and related issues can lead to delays and difficulties in the process of recovery and intensification of their psychosocial pressures. Acquiring more knowledge about different impacts of COVID-19 will be helpful for providing timely and better rehabilitation.
Phenomenological Reflections on Grief during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 2022
This paper addresses how and why social restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have affected people's experiences of grief. To do so, I adopt a broadly phenomenological approach, one that emphasizes how our experiences, thoughts, and activities are shaped by relations with other people. Drawing on first-person accounts of grief during the pandemic, I identify two principal (and overlapping) themes: (a) deprivation and disruption of interpersonal processes that play important roles in comprehending and adapting to bereavement; (b) disturbance of an experiential world in the context of which loss is more usually recognized and negotiated. The combination, I suggest, can amount to a sort of "grief within grief", involving a sense of stasis consistent with clinical descriptions of prolonged grief disorder.
Making My Way Back: Early Coping of Bereaved Family Members During Pandemic
Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal , 2022
The pandemic has brought us into a life of uncertainty and unexpected deaths in families. Filipinos are known to have close family ties which impacted their bereavement. Utilizing grounded theory, this qualitative research study aimed to propose a theory to describe the coping of the bereaved. Specifically, it explored (1) initial reaction and anticipatory grief; (2) compound difficulties; and (3) coping of the participants. Twenty young adults were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. A semi-structured interview was carried out and the data were processed in cool and warm analysis. Four phases were identified: (1) the anguish phase which represents the negative and positive emotions felt by the participants. (2) Bethink phase which involves contemplation and reflection. (3) The laying ground phase mirrors the participants' discovery and engagement with their coping strategies. And (4) the existing phase where they show that they are still in the process of coping but denote meaning-making and acceptance of loss. The ABLE Theory, an acronym derived from the first letters of the four phases, is useful in understanding the experiences of the bereaved to better equip the community and mental help professionals in dealing with similar concerns of individuals during a public health crisis.
A Phenomenological and Clinical Description of Pandemic Grief: How to Adapt Bereavement Services?
Palliative Medicine Reports
Background: Some studies suggest that individuals having lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic report higher levels of grief reactions than people bereaved from natural causes. Little is known about the lived and subjective experience of individuals who lost a loved one under confinement measures. Aim: This research aims to provide a phenomenological description of pandemic grief (PG) that can be useful in clinical settings and bereavement services. Methods: Seventy-six qualitative phenomenological interviews have been conducted with 37 individuals who have lost a loved one during the first wave of the pandemic. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was performed following Tracy's criteria for rigorous qualitative research. Results: The experience of PG comprises clinical manifestations and can be described as ''a type of grief occurring in the context of a pandemic, where applicable public health measures have precedence over end of life and caregiving practices as well as funeral rituals, overshadowing the needs, values, and wishes of the dying individuals and those who grieve them.'' Discussion/Conclusion: This study is the first to provide a phenomenological and experiential understanding of PG. Our phenomenological description can be helpful in clinical settings such as bereavement services within palliative care teams.
Practice in Clinical Psycholoy (JPCP), 2023
The challenges of grief caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and how to deal with it are serious issues affecting people worldwide, including Iran. Accordingly, the present study aimed to explore the nature of mourning for those who lost their family members during the COVID-19 epidemic and identify the quality of strategies used to cope with it. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using a grounded theory approach. The study participants were 20 survivors of COVID-19 in Tehran City, Iran, who were grieving the loss of their loved ones during the epidemic in 2021. The participants were selected using purposeful sampling. The data were collected through quasi-structured interviews with the participants. The collected data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Results: The results revealed three main categories: Underlying factors affecting grief (beliefs and attitudes toward death and the afterlife, the public reaction to grief, the specific position and role of the deceased), the nature and development of grief (including feelings of anger at the community and the medical staff, the nature of death due to COVID-19 and blaming oneself for the illness and death of the deceased), and coping and managing grief (coping the thought of death and the meaning of life, inducing life in oneself and other survivors, and changing the pattern of thinking and behaving towards others and life). Conclusion: The COVID-19 survivors who are grieving the loss of their loved ones can use this model to better understand and manage to cope with grief and adapt to it simultaneously. Ultimately, this process led to adaptation to mourning and adopting effective coping strategies in the COVID-19 survivors. The core category revealed in the study was "optimal coping with grief and loss during the COVID-19 epidemic".
OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying
Due to the massive deaths and high level of contagion brought about by COVID-19, burial practices and the way we bury our dead are being affected by SARS-CoV-2 confinement and control measures. Here, we aimed to examine the changing of death, dying, and mourning during the first wave and quarantine applied in Peru with the arrival of COVID-19 in 2020. Using a qualitative approach, 15 participants who lost a family member because of COVID-19 were interviewed by telephone and video call. Our results revealed that death in isolation, the loss of rituals, and the farewell to relatives have dramatically affected family members. Peruvian funeral practices were altered by health provisions, making it a challenge to accompany relatives at the end of life. This way of coping with death can affect family wellbeing, for which no interventions have yet been proposed to improve the quality of life during bereavement.
End-of-Life Care in the Time of Covid-19 in Brazil: Grief and Communication Issues
Medical research archives, 2023
The authors comment on communication problems with patients and families in ICUs during the social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. They report new techniques used, such as a virtual visit via WhatsApp, and the creation of multidisciplinary teams to assist family members in overcoming grief after the death of their loved ones.
ADITUM, 2021
Grief is a natural process which one experiences after the loss of a loved one, and often accompanied by strong emotions of pain, sorrow and discomfort. For bereaved persons to maintain their psychological functions, it is significant to go through a healthy process of grief. In this article, two major restrictions are defined as an obstacle for a healthy grief process in COVID-19 period. First is the degradation and reduction of traditional rituals due to secularization and individualization of the 21st century, which also led care providers to perceive death as no longer a natural process but as a medical failure or defeat. The second obstacle is the pandemic restrictions which do not allow people to apply rituals such as saying goodbye, seeing the body of the loved one, organizing a funeral and receiving support from the society. This article explores the importance of rituals and group support from the perspective of grief theories as well as recent research conducted on grief.
The grief experience during the COVID-19 pandemic across different cultures
Annals of General Psychiatry
Grief is the physical or mental suffering experienced after a major loss, usually the death of a loved one. It is a universal experience, but sociocultural factors, such as cultural or ethnic identity and religious beliefs predict and shape the expression of grief. The circumstances under which people are experiencing grief during the coronavirus outbreak have adversely affected the grieving process. Unexpected deaths, social distancing rules and visitor restrictions in healthcare facilities have posed a heavier burden on the loss and have heightened the risk of grievers experiencing complicated or persistent grief. This concern led us, as early career psychiatrists (ECPs) from 14 different countries connected by the Early Career Psychiatrists Section of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), to share our country-specific experiences on the mourning, grief tradition, and burial rites during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we discuss our experiences, similarities and differen...