Komplizierte Trauer erfassen: Ein systematischer Review

Ziel Überblick englisch- und deutschsprachiger Messinstrumente zur Diagnostik von klinisch relevanten Trauerverläufen und Trauer in ihrer Multidimensionalität.

Methodik Systematischer Literaturreview.

Ergebnisse Insgesamt konnten 22 Inventare extrahiert werden, die sich unterteilen lassen in allgemeine und spezielle Verfahren zur Akutdiagnostik sowie Verfahren zur Früherkennung. Alle Inventare weisen überwiegend gute psychometrische Kennwerte auf.

Diskussion International existiert eine Vielzahl an Messverfahren. Für den deutschen Sprachraum liegen 3 allgemeine und 3 spezielle Inventare vor.

Schlussfolgerung Bislang fehlen deutschsprachige Verfahren zur Früherkennung schwieriger Trauerverläufe.

Investigating factors associated with nurses' attitudes towards perinatal bereavement care: a study in Shandong and Hong Kong

AIMS

To explore nurses' attitudes towards perinatal bereavement care and to identify factors associated with these attitudes.

BACKGROUND

It is likely that the attitude of nursing staff can influence recovery from a pregnancy loss and that nurses with positive attitudes to bereavement care can help bereaved parents to cope during their grieving period.

DESIGN

Survey.

METHOD

Data were collected through a structured questionnaire; 657 nurses were recruited from Obstetrics and Gynaecology units in Hong Kong and Shandong during 2006. Outcome measures included attitudes towards perinatal bereavement care, importance of hospital policy and training support for bereavement care.

RESULTS

The majority of nurses in this study had a positive attitude to bereavement care. Results show that only 21.6% (n = 141) of the nurses surveyed had bereavement-related training. In contrast, about 89.8% (n = 300) believed they needed to be equipped with relevant knowledge, skills and understanding in the care and support of bereaved parents and more than 88.5% (n = 592) would share their experiences with their colleagues and seek support when feeling under stress. A regression model showed that age, past experience in handling grieving parents, recent ranking and nurses' perceived attitudes to hospital policy and training provided for bereavement care were the factors associated with nurses' attitudes to perinatal bereavement care.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses in both cities emphasised their need for increased knowledge and experience, improved communication skills and greater support from team members and the hospital for perinatal bereavement care.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

These findings may be used by nursing educators to educate their students on issues related to delivery of sensitive bereavement care in perinatal settings and to enhance nursing school curricula.

The experience of Chinese bereaved persons: a preliminary study of meaning making and continuing bonds

This study explores the bereavement process of Chinese persons in Hong Kong, with the focus on how they make meaning of the death as well as how they maintain a bond with the deceased. A review of video- and audiotapes of 52 bereaved persons in bereavement counseling pointed to how these concepts are reflected in key themes that appeared throughout these interviews. The way this bereaved population found meaning in the death was reflected in how they understood the cause of death, their observations at the death moment, their understanding of the life of the deceased after the death, the life of the bereaved after the death, and the burial and mourning rituals that were followed. The continuing bond the bereaved felt with the deceased was experienced by the bereaved as either initiated by the deceased, for example by the deceased appearing in dreams or initiated by the bereaved themselves in their talking with the deceased. These 2 aspects of the bereavement process seem to be similar to those found in other societies, but the ways in which they were manifested were unique to the Chinese culture. Based on these findings, the authors conclude with implications for intervention with this bereaved population.

The assessment of grief among Hong Kong Chinese: a preliminary report

This is a preliminary report of a study that examined the clinical usefulness of the Chinese Grief Reaction Assessment Form (GRAF). The validity, reliability, and factor structure of the form were also explored. We administered the GRAF to 180 bereaved individuals during intake interview for bereavement counseling. The GRAF has obtained good internal Cronbach's alpha reliability of .89 and showed its validity in being able to discriminate between the grief reactions of bereaved individuals experiencing anticipated and unanticipated death in the predicted direction. Bereaved women had stronger grief reaction than men. The item "I do not want to abandon him/her" obtained the highest mean ranked scores among both bereaved men and bereaved women. Our findings support the use of the GRAF as a clinical tool to assess psychological symptoms associated with bereavement among Hong Kong Chinese, which also holds promise for research and program evaluation.