bereave

The article asks whether disasters that destroy life but leave the material infrastructure relatively intact tend to prompt communal coping focussing on loss, while disasters that destroy significant material infrastructure tend to prompt coping through restoration / re-building. After comparing memorials to New Zealand's Christchurch earthquake and Pike River mine disasters, we outline circumstances in which collective restorative endeavour may be grassroots, organised from above, or manipulated, along with limits to effective restoration...

This study investigated the relationship between the role of the surviving parent in the child's grieving process, the continuing bond with the deceased parent and bio-psychosocial functioning and active grief in adulthood. A survey of 135 adults, parentally bereaved in childhood, indicated that the surviving parent's role in facilitating the grieving process promoted a positive continuing bond with the deceased in childhood, as well as general functioning in adulthood. The continuing bond with the deceased had a weak association with both better general functioning and relational active grief...

BACKGROUND: Dying in the preferred setting is an indicator of good palliative care quality. Most people prefer to die at home. But does the quality of care as perceived by their relatives vary depending on the care setting that is the place of death? The aim is to compare (from the relatives perspective) whether there are perceived differences in the quality of palliative care between the settings in which people die. METHODS: Multivariate linear regression analyses have been carried out using an existing dataset containing information collected using the relatives' version of the Consumer Quality Index (CQ-index) Palliative Care...

OBJECTIVES: For mental health outreach programs for older adults, accurately detecting depression is key to quality service provision. Multiple factors, including gender, cognitive impairment, or recent bereavement may affect depression detection, but this is under-studied. Therefore, we sought to both establish rates of depressive symptom detection and to examine factors associated with inaccuracies of detecting depression among participants in a mental health outreach program serving older adults...

Social relationships throughout life are vital for well-being and physical and mental health. A significant amount of research in animal models as well as in humans suggests that oxytocin (OT) plays an important role in the development of the capacity to form social bonds, the mediation of the positive aspects of early-life nurturing on adult bonding capacity, and the maintenance of social bonding. Here, we focus on the extensive research on a socially monogamous rodent model organism, the prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster)...

CONTEXT: Unfinished business often causes psychological issues after bereavement. Providing care for families of terminally ill patients with cancer to prevent unfinished business is important. OBJECTIVES: To clarify the prevalence and types of unfinished business in families of end-of-life patients with cancer admitted to palliative care units (PCUs), explore depression and grief associated with unfinished business, and explore the factors affecting unfinished business...

BACKGROUND: End-of-life communication becomes increasingly difficult in terminal cancer, which inevitably entails conversations around dying and death. In resource-limited areas, the context of end-of-life communication is usually home-based palliative care comprising mostly women in the family who play critical roles as informal caregivers. This article examined the content and contexts of family end-of-life conversations and decisions based on the retrospective accounts of a sample of bereaved women family cancer caregivers in Nairobi, Kenya...

BACKGROUND: Although caregiver burden may continue to influence the mental health of cancer patients' caregivers long after bereavement few studies have examined this issue. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to provide a summary of (1) operationalizations of caregiver burden used in this field and (2) the effect of caregiver burden on post-bereavement mental health of adult caregivers of cancer patients. A systematic search of the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and PsycINFO was conducted across empirical studies published in a peer-reviewed journal up until April 2017...

Preliminary evidence suggests that exposure to lifetime cumulative adversity is related to faster increase in physical impairment with time, especially when depressive symptoms are present. Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether different adversity categories accelerate impairment. The current study capitalized on the unique accounts of adversity available in the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-Israel) by focusing on different categories of adversity, while accounting for their interaction with depressive symptoms in predicting trajectories of physical impairment (i...

We present study results regarding soldiers' willingness to conduct posthumous reproduction. Two hundred twelve Israeli soldiers filled in a questionnaire designed to examine their willingness to cryopreserve sperm and evaluate in which familial circumstances they would consent to posthumous reproduction. They ranked the desirability of 46 attributes of a potential mother and a life partner. Findings indicate a relatively high predisposition in favor of posthumous-assisted reproduction; the wishes of soldiers' parents had much more influence on soldiers' willingness to pursue this technology than those of a partner...

The work of Jacques Derrida has received relatively little attention within nursing philosophy. Perhaps this is because Derrida is known best for deconstructing philosophy itself, a task he performed by making language unintelligible to make a point. This in itself makes his work daunting for nurses who do applied philosophy. Despite these difficulties, Derrida's focus on holding open a space for ideas, particularly those ideas that are invisible or unpopular, holds potential for enhancing the diversity of ideas within nursing...

CONTEXT: Talking about death is an important issue for terminally-ill cancer patients and their families. Little is known about how often and which bereaved families regret not having talked about death with their deceased loved one. OBJECTIVES: To explore the prevalence of a regret of not having talked about death with a deceased loved one among bereaved family members of adult cancer patients, and to systematically explore factors contributing to their regret...

BACKGROUND: The death of a parent is a highly stressful life event for bereaved children. Several studies have shown an increased risk of mental ill-health and psychosocial problems among affected children. The aims of this study were to systematically review studies about effective support interventions for parentally bereaved children and to identify gaps in the research. METHODS: The review's inclusion criteria were comparative studies with samples of parentally bereaved children...

This article explores the experience and meaning of time from the perspective of caregivers who have recently been bereaved following the death of a family member. The study is situated within the broader cultural tendency to understand bereavement within the logic of stages, including the perception of bereavement as a somewhat predictable and certainly time-delimited ascent from a nadir in death to a 'new normal' once loss is accepted. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with 15 bereaved family caregivers we challenge bereavement as a linear, temporally bound process, examining the multiple ways bereavement is experienced and how it variously resists ideas about the timeliness, desirability and even possibility of 'recovery'...

BACKGROUND: Bereavement by suicide is associated with a number of consequences including poor mental health outcomes and increased suicide risk. Despite this, the bereaved by suicide may be reluctant to seek help from friends, family, and professionals. Internet forums and social networking sites are a popular avenue of support for the bereaved, but to date there is a lack of research into their use and efficacy. AIMS: To survey users of suicide bereavement Internet forums and Facebook groups regarding their help-seeking behaviors, use of forums, and perceived benefits and limitations of such use...

AIMS: This study explored how paediatric healthcare professionals experienced and coped with end-of-life conflicts and identified how to improve coping strategies. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to all 2,300 professionals at a paediatric university hospital, covering the frequency of end-of-life conflicts, participants, contributing factors, resolution strategies, outcomes and the usefulness of specific institutional coping strategies. RESULTS: Of the 946 professionals (41%) who responded, 466 had witnessed or participated in paediatric end-of-life discussions: 73% said these had led to conflict, more frequently between professionals (58%) than between professionals and parents (33%)...

Objectives A significant proportion of Quebec seniors are living with mental health problems or psychosocial issues such as isolation, bereavement, and psychological distress. These people face many forms of exclusion and are likely to have limited social participation. This paper describes the co-construction steps of a program aimed at promoting community participation among this population.Methods A method for the co-construction of innovative practices in health promotion was used to develop a program that is relevant, rigorous and feasible in diverse settings...

The current study examined posttraumatic growth (PTG) experienced by bereaved pet owners following the death of their pet. Using qualitative methodology, we analyzed responses of 308 participants who answered yes to a question about experiencing PTG. Within the five factors model of PTG, the most endorsed included the following: Relating to Others ( n = 76), Appreciation of Life ( n = 52), Personal Strength ( n = 51), Spiritual Change ( n = 32), and New Possibilities ( n = 29). Other themes not captured by the PTG included as follows: relating to animals ( n = 70), continuing bonds ( n = 53), attachment relationship ( n = 44), and unconditional love ( n = 13)...

No research drawing from Self-Determination Theory has investigated the bereavement experience of individuals or how motivation can help facilitate posttraumatic growth (PTG) following the death of a loved one. In two cross-sectional studies, university students completed an online survey. Study 1 investigated the contribution of global autonomous and controlled motivation in statistically predicting PTG above and beyond previously researched correlates. Study 2 explored the mediating role of cognitive appraisals and coping in explaining the relationship between global motivation orientations and PTG...

Although Japan has a high suicide rate, there is insufficient research on the experiences of suicide-bereaved individuals. We investigated the qualitative aspects of the meaning reconstruction process after a loss to suicide. We conducted a life-story interview using open-ended questions with one middle-aged Japanese woman who lost her son to suicide. We used a narrative approach to transcribe and code the participant's narratives for analysis. The analysis revealed three meaning groups that structured the participant's reactions to the suicide: making sense of her son's death and life, relationships with other people, and reconstruction of a bond with the deceased...