ABSTRACT
BackgroundBereavement support is lacking and inequitable despite an excess need exacerbated by COVID-19 and recent reports highlighting the need for consistency. Literature has emphasised the key role communities including employers and public facing organisations could have in caring for the bereaved.AimsTo establish if bereavement training for employers and public facing organisations is beneficial, how it should be provided, to whom and whether associated policy change is required?SettinIn 2021 St Oswald's Hospice, Newcastle started providing bereavement training for employers and employees in public and private sector organisations. To date 343 participants from 105 regional and national organisations including local authorities, charities, universities, and health and emergency-service providers have been trained.MethodsParticipants from the 105 organisations were asked for expressions of interest for participation in qualitative semi structured interviews. Purposive sampling selected 16 people ensuring data sufficiency and representation from all employment sectors.ResultsResults were organised around four main themes: The unique challenges faced by employees and employers following a bereavement, the gap in bereavement training provision (including recommendations for inclusion and expansion), training should be tiered and bespoke (but basic training should be universally received) and change in (organisational and governmental) bereavement policies are required.ConclusionsEmployees of varying grades and professions recommend tiered bereavement training for employing organisations. Perceived benefits include improved support and subsequently mental and physical wellbeing of employees, harmonious and efficient organisations and the development of supportive and compassionate communities. Recommendations for organisational and governmental bereavement policies include paid leave as standard with flexibility to respond appropriately to individual situations.
ABSTRACT
BackgroundMarie Curie’s recent ‘Better End of Life Care’ report highlighted a lack of bereavement support nationally despite excess need exacerbated by COVID-19. Bereavement support should increase peoples’ ability to cope and improve wellbeing, fundamental to enable bereaved individuals to return to work. Systems approaches to mass bereavement must create compassionate employers.AimsTo produce and evaluate a digitally delivered bereavement training package for employers and public-facing-organisations.MethodsSt Oswald’s Hospice’s regional bereavement service started providing bereavement training for public and private sector employers in 2021. This unique enterprise teaches individuals in positions which support staff wellbeing about the experience and impact of being bereaved, how they can support bereaved employees and why it is important. Participants are asked to express how confident they feel supporting someone who has been bereaved both before and after the training and to complete a quantitative and qualitative evaluation.Results229 participants from 59 nationwide organisations including councils, charities, universities, and health-services have been trained. Those that were confident to help and support someone who has been bereaved increased from 21% before to 76% after training. Participants also felt more comfortable talking about death and dying (34% before, 78% after training). 98% of participants felt their expectations of the training were met and 88% stated they would recommend the training. Qualitative comments focussed on the sessions being informative, practical, and well delivered.‘The session was very informative and was delivered with great sensitivity. I’d highly recommend this to anyone working in or leading a team.’ConclusionThis project demonstrates that bereavement training can be effectively delivered to a wide range of employers and public-facing-organisations, increasing participants’ confidence in supporting employees who have been bereaved. The next phase of this project is to expand training and perform qualitative evaluation with employers, including assessing whether training has resulted in modifications to participating organisations’ bereavement policies.