Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Bereavement and Grief

The Lived Experiences of Bereaved Filipino Families of the Deceased Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The typical highlight of Filipino mourning of conducting funerals and burials has ceased due to recent health guidelines which required the deceased, who tested positive for the virus, to be cremated and buried right away to avoid further spread of the disease - making bereavement more complicated. This paper investigates the experiences of bereaved Filipino families who lost their loved ones to COVID-19 through a qualitative research design. Researchers explored the experiences of at least three (3) COVID-19 bereaved families through a descriptive phenomenological approach and analyzed the data using thematic analysis to extract the bereavement process experienced by the participants. The findings of the study highlight the changes to the Filipino funeral practice caused by the pandemic and the major roles of connectedness, and cultural and religious beliefs in the Filipino bereavement experience.

Grief: The Epidemic Within an Epidemic

COVID-19 has not only dramatically changed the way we live, it has also impacted how we die and how we grieve. With more and more Americans dying in ICU settings, away from family, and more funerals being held virtually, the pandemic has seriously curtailed normal expressions of grief and cultural mourning. Given the CDC guidelines for funerals and social distancing, simple human touch is no longer a mitigating force against prolonged grief. So, while one epidemic has a face and a name, we point to a second, more silent yet potentially equally devastating one, unacknowledged grief, and emphasize how policy can be a current therapeutic. We can wait for a vaccine, but we can also act now through thoughtful policymaking that acknowledges this second epidemic.