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Informal caregivers are integral members of the hospice palliative care interdisciplinary team and quality care includes providing effective and accessible grief and bereavement supports to these caregivers. With the number of informal caregivers projected to increase as the population ages, the need for grief and bereavement supports will also increase.
Thrower and team (2022) conducted a scoping review to answer the question, “What interventions exist in Canada to support grieving and bereaved caregivers of older adults/geriatric patients in (hospice) palliative care? “
Following a database search of the research and grey literature, 18 articles were included in the scoping review. The articles were reviewed by the research team and data was extracted and analyzed. From this process, three themes and several sub-themes were identified:
- Classification of intervention – the content of the intervention.
- Creative Interventions, including art therapy, music therapy and written interventions
- Educational interventions, including handbook and learning modules
- Psychosocial interventions, including spiritual care interventions and support groups
- Format of intervention – the delivery channels used to provide grief and bereavement support.
- Delivery method (in-person, online and telephone)
- Setting (formal care setting and home)
- Frequency (one-time, ongoing)
- Timing (pre-death and post-death)
- Intervention target – the intended recipient of the intervention.
- Caregivers
- Healthcare professionals
- Volunteers
Practice Implications
The scoping review also revealed several practice implications related to the need for increased clinical attention to caregiver grief. This includes increased education and training for providers such as social workers. It was also noted that caregiver grief may be difficult to recognize in practice. Accurate diagnosis is crucial so that appropriate interventions are provided and the need to develop accurate screening tools was identified.
Policy Implications
The authors highlighted the need for a societal paradigm shift in the way that grief and bereavement are perceived and addressed. This includes the recognition of the role that caregivers play in providing a link between care setting and the recognition of the role of grief and bereavement programming in preventing illness. Further, the need for increased funding for bereavement programming was identified.
The authors conclude by noting that, although the research describes a diverse set of interventions that have been studied, there is a need for more evidence and robust studies to evaluate effectiveness of these interventions.
Source: Thrower, C., Barrie, C., Baxter, S., Bloom, M., Borja, M. C., Butters, A., … & Klinger, C. A. (2022). Interventions for Grieving and Bereaved Informal Caregivers: A Scoping Review of the Canadian Literature. Journal of Palliative Care, 08258597221101826.
