bereave

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to explore how family members experienced the use of a diary when a relative does not survive the stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). METHOD: A qualitative method with a hermeneutic approach was used. Nine participants who read/wrote eight diaries in total were interviewed. The collected data were analysed using a hermeneutic technique inspired by Geanellos. FINDINGS: The analysis revealed an overall theme 'the diary was experienced as a bridge connecting the past with the future', which was a metaphor referring to the temporal aspect where there was the period with the diary up until the patient's death and then the postbereavement period...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

An assessment of suicidal behaviors in the dermatology patient may be necessary in several situations: (1) in the presence of psychiatric comorbidity (major depressive disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, substance use disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder), encountered in up to 30% of dermatology patients; (2) when dermatologic symptoms ("dysmorphophobia," dermatitis artefacta) represent psychiatric pathologic conditions; (3) when psychosocial stressors (bereavement, interpersonal violence) increase the risk of suicidal behavior and exacerbate stress-reactive dermatoses (psoriasis, acne); (4) in the presence of high disease burden (chronicity, increased disease severity); (5) in instances of significant pruritus or chronic sleep disruption; (6) in the presence of facial lesions or facial scarring; (7) when social exclusion or feelings of alienation arise secondary to the skin disorder; (8) with use of medications (retinoids, biologics) for which suicidal behavior has been implicated as a possible side effect; and (9) when treating psychiatric patients experiencing a serious reaction to psychotropic medications (eg, Stevens-Johnson syndrome and anticonvulsants)...

BACKGROUND: In the limited research into suicides in older adults, they have been treated as a homogenous group without distinguishing between different age groups. This study aimed to compare differences in sociodemographic variables, recent life events, and mental and physical illnesses between three age groups within older adults who died by suicide: young-old (65-74 years), middle-old (75-84 years), and oldest old (85 years and over) in Queensland, Australia, during the years 2000-2012 (N = 978)...

(1) Background: The communication of hope is complicated, particularly for family caregivers in the context of cancer who struggle to maintain hope for themselves and their loved ones in the face of terminality. In order to understand these complexities, the current study examines the bright and dark sides of how hope is communicated across the cancer journey from the vantage point of bereaved family caregivers; (2) Methods: We analyzed interviews with bereaved family caregivers using qualitative thematic and case oriented strategies to identify patterns in the positive and negative lived experiences when communicating about hope at the end of life; (3) Results: Two overarching patterns of hope emerged...

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BACKGROUND: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans (LGBT) people have higher risk of certain life-limiting illnesses and unmet needs in advanced illness and bereavement. ACCESSCare is the first national study to examine in depth the experiences of LGBT people facing advanced illness. AIM: To explore health-care experiences of LGBT people facing advanced illness to elicit views regarding sharing identity (sexual orientation/gender history), accessing services, discrimination/exclusion and best-practice examples...

BACKGROUND: Complicated Grief (CG) is a recently recognized bereavement-related mental health disorder. Social support is commonly measured with the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), a 40-item, 4-factor, self-report measure. Though the ISEL has been well-studied, no identified research has examined its psychometric properties or performance in older adults with CG. METHODS: We examined the psychometric properties of the ISEL in adults age ≥60 who enrolled in a psychotherapy treatment study for CG in New York City...

This meta-analysis examined the strength of association between upward counterfactual thinking and depressive symptoms. Forty-two effect sizes from a pooled sample of 13,168 respondents produced a weighted average effect size of r=.26, p<.001. Moderator analyses using an expanded set of 96 effect sizes indicated that upward counterfactuals and regret produced significant positive effects that were similar in strength. Effects also did not vary as a function of the theme of the counterfactual-inducing situation or study design (cross-sectional versus longitudinal)...

Aim of the study The aim of the study was to assess the level of psychosocial distress and satisfaction with care in family caregivers after the death of a close relative. Method Anxiety and depression (HADS) of family caregivers were evaluated in both bereaved family caregivers and a comparable group from the general population. Furthermore, satisfaction with care (ZUF-8) and social support (HOPE-Module, ESSI) were assessed after the patients had died. Regression models were employed to analyze associations between psychological distress and sociodemographic and care-related variables...

The loss of a close relative is a common event, yet it is associated with increased risk of serious mental health conditions. No large-scale study has explored up to now the importance of the bereaved person's relation to the deceased while accounting for gender and age. We performed a nationwide Danish cohort study using register information from 1995 through 2013 on four sub-cohorts including all persons aged ≥18 years exposed to the loss of a child, spouse, sibling or parent. We identified 1,445,378 bereaved persons, and each was matched by gender, age and family composition to five non-bereaved persons...

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Very few factors that impact the grieving process can be modified after the fact to the extent that social support can. However, social support has received limited research attention, resulting in little conceptual understanding of the mechanisms behind perceptions of, and intentions to support, grieving persons. This systematic review aimed to explore bereaved, decedent, and respondent-related determinants of the provision of social support. The review yielded 42 studies impacted by various methodological and sampling limitations...

The rationale, development, and validation of the Bereavement Guilt Scale (BGS) are described in this article. The BGS was based on a theoretically developed, multidimensional conceptualization of guilt. Part 1 describes the generation of the item pool, derived from in-depth interviews, and review of the scientific literature. Part 2 details statistical analyses for further item selection (Sample 1, N = 273). Part 3 covers the psychometric properties of the emergent-BGS (Sample 2, N = 600, and Sample 3, N = 479)...

This article explains the meaning of the phrase Death Cafe and describes what typically occurs at a Death Cafe gathering. The article traces the history of the Death Cafe movement, explores some reasons why people take part in a Death Cafe gathering, and gives examples of what individuals think they might derive from their participation. In addition, this article notes similarities between the Death Cafe movement and three other developments in the field of death, dying, and bereavement. Finally, this article identifies two provisional lessons that can be drawn from Death Cafe gatherings and the Death Cafe movement itself...

It is a worldwide trend that more households are having pets or companion animals. Hence, there has been an increasing number of animal lovers experience companion animal loss bereavement. This form of bereavement has not been explored in Chinese societies. We conducted a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with 31 animal lovers and recruited through convenience and snowball sampling in Hong Kong. Companion animal loss bereavement appears to share similar features to other forms of bereavement but also has its unique features...

Children whose parent died by suicide are a vulnerable and underserved population. This phenomenon will be described, as well as implications for practice and research. "Double Whammy," a conceptualization of the overall experience of this marginalized group, emerged through two in-depth interviews from a phenomenological qualitative study with professionals who facilitate support groups for children bereaved by parental suicide. It was corroborated with current literature and practice experiences of the authors and their colleagues...

This study investigated differences in specific meanings made following bereavement, according to participants' prolonged grief symptomatology. A survey of 580 bereaved adults (N = 580, Mage 61.6 years, 70.7% female) showed 13 meanings predicted symptomatology, with the largest differences between the two lower symptomatology groups and the high symptomatology group; the latter was more likely to report no meaning. The results provide further support for empirically distinct groups within the bereaved population, not only in terms of symptoms, etiology, outcomes, courses, and treatment responses, but also in their meanings made, and may assist in advancing meaning reconstruction interventions...

Cultural-specific determinants of coping with widowhood were investigated by the Two-Track-Bereavement Model. Participants were 93 middle aged and middle class Israeli Arab Muslim widows. Factor analysis emitted four factors of adjusting to widowhood. The suffering and resilience factors and the total scale score were consistently correlated with personality attributes, whereas demographics were associated mainly with the suffering factor and the total scale score. The factors differed from the factors characteristic of Israeli Jewish bereaved, which emphasize the need to examine models of bereavement in cross-cultural perspective and to account for the interaction of cultural effects with psychological processes...