Complicated grief knowledge, attitudes, skills, and training among mental health professionals: A qualitative exploration

Attitudes and Experiences Towards Death of Healthcare Professionals Working in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

BACKGROUND

Death is an integral part of neonatal intensive care units' (NICUs) environment and little it is known about NICU's staff death concepts.

AIM

To investigate attitudes and experiences towards death of healthcare professionals (HPs) working in NICUs.

DESIGN

Totally 131 participants from six hospitals were included in the study. Research instruments were a questionnaire designed by the authors and the scale Death Attitude Profile-Revised.

RESULTS

Gender, marital and educational status, frequent contact with end of life neonates and provision of neonatal end of life care during the research period correlated significantly with dimensions of DAP-R. Impact of NICU neonatal deaths on personal life correlated negatively with fear of death and positively with escape acceptance.

CONCLUSION

Evaluating the interrelationships among personal characteristics, attitudes and experiences towards death among NICU HPs may increase our understanding concerning working with dying neonates and provide direction for educational intervention and continuing professional support.

Actions taken and barriers encountered by professionals working with adults with intellectual disabilities who experience grief: a qualitative approach

Experience of grief has increased among people with intellectual disability because of their longer life expectancy. Professionals supporting this population are often critical of the lack of adequate tools for dealing with this situation. The objective of this study was to identify the strategies and barriers that these professionals are confronted with when dealing people with intellectual disability who are going through the grieving process. A qualitative study was conducted involving 20 professionals working with people with intellectual disability. Four themes were extracted using thematic analysis: Exclusion of clients from end-of-life and grief processes, Strategies to support the client's grief process, Emotional and personal difficulties faced by the professionals, and Coping and regulation of the professional's grief process. Barriers identified by these professionals include not having the specific skills to support clients in their grief and the emotional impact of the death of a client.

The effect of suppressing funeral rituals during the COVID-19 pandemic on bereaved families

Objective

amidst the greatest health crisis in history triggered by COVID-19, this documental study was intended to understand the meanings individuals who have lost loved ones in this context assign to the phenomenon of suppressed funeral rituals.

Method

based on the theory of grief, the corpus of this study was composed of documents published in digital media containing personal writings and reports of experiences freely and easily available to the public. Two researchers with expertise in the field used inductive thematic analysis to interpret data.

Results

the experiences shared in the reports reflect the suffering experienced by the sudden death of a significant person, which is amplified by the absence or impediment to performing familial farewell rituals. The suppression or abbreviation of funeral rituals is a traumatic experience because family members are prevented from fulfilling their last homage to the loved one who has suddenly passed away, causing feelings of disbelief and indignation.

Conclusion

alternatives and new ways to celebrate passage rituals in emergencies of strong social commotion such as a pandemic are needed to provide support and comfort to family members, friends, and relatives. These rituals help survivors to overcome the critical moment, decreasing the risk of developing complicated grief.