‘You Took me Back to the sea:' Using Narrative to Explore and Inform the Practice of Social Work with Dying People

This article centres on a qualitative interview extract, the ‘Story of the Pebble', in which a West African Hospital Social Worker Ado, working in a UK context, and identifying as a Shaman, describes successfully trusting his instincts to create a symbol for a dying patient. Despite criticisms from colleagues, Ado's capacity to understand his patients needs are justified both before and after her death.The article discusses significant themes from the interview extract, including the meaning of professionalism, practice wisdom and cultural influences in a UK social work context, as well as through Ado's heritage and identification as a Shaman. The article considers holistic patient care in a medical context and suggests this has some useful lessons for social workers, particularly those involved with dying people. Although the extract, and wider research study from which it is drawn, pre-date the Covid 19 pandemic, this is referenced throughout, linking the interview extract to ways of helping practitioners and educators to consider people holistically at end of life. AD -, Chichester, UK ;, Chichester, UK

Roots and resiliency for native American young people

Aim: The presentation shares traditional Native American knowledge about wellbeing and caring for a person's body, heart, connection to the Creator, ancestors, and the land Methods: Drawing upon community narratives and traditional ancestral knowledge themes pertinent to the topic will be presented. Narrative Review Results: Ancestral knowledge is essential to access and practice in? community care and healing. This knowledge is sacred to the lives wellbeing, and continuation of traditional ways for Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (CTWS) people. CTWS young people play an important role in these practices for their community and elders. The practice of taking CTWS children from families was a pivotal moment that pushed forward the concept of mental health for the CTWS. The threat of climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic's activation of memories of imposed isolation between our people and from traditional ways continues to impact our young people. The process of healing from historical and present-day traumas includes grieving those losses and healing from addictions, as well as physical and sexual abuse Conclusion(s): Rebuilding and strengthening connections to the land Chuush (water in Sahaptin language), food gathering, and being with each other, is central to our young people's, and community's, healing The path of returning to our traditional understanding of the knowledge of what the Creator has provided for the CTWS people will be shared. This knowledge is useful for the care of young people Native and non-Native alike.

COVID-19 through the lens of mental health in India: Present status and future directions

This book provides an in-depth understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the psychological health of people and communities in India. Focusing on the current discourse on Mental Health literacy in India, the book also analyses COVID-19-specific health beliefs and their convergences and divergences with COVID-19 protocols and advisories. It discusses the impact of the pandemic on survivors of COVID-19 including their quality of life, psychological well-being, and coping mechanisms while tackling loneliness, loss, and grief. It explores the psychological and social challenges which children have faced during the pandemic and offers techniques to address and adequately manage Mental Health challenges. Grounded in theoretical and empirical research, this book will be of interest to students, teachers, and researchers of psychology, social psychology, Mental Health and wellness studies, and sociology. It will also be useful for academicians, social workers, healthcare workers, and psychologists. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Distance and grief: Optimising wellbeing for transnational migrants in Tasmania

End-of-life care, bereavement and grief involve significant challenges and impact our wellbeing in varied ways. For transnational migrants, geographical distance to a dying loved one, relatives, friends and meaningful locations can further complicate care, bereavement and grief. Our research aims to improve understandings of the role distance plays for transnational migrant wellbeing at these times. Using an instrumental, interpretative case study design we explored the experiences of five people with migration backgrounds with end-of-life care, bereavement and grief in Tasmania, Australia. Additional data sources included policies for end-of-life and bereavement care in Tasmania. In our study, participants tended to seek – and create – places and spaces of informal, rather than formal, support, both in their receiving society and country of origin. Online spaces played a key role: keeping people in touch with family members overseas, providing a means to care from a distance and ways to participate in grief rituals – albeit with mixed success. A lack of places to perform death and grief rituals, and inability to be physically present at a loved one's death (for some, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions) posed significant challenges to participants' wellbeing and impacted coping. We argue that if societies better understand the significances of places, spaces and distance during times of end-of-life, bereavement and grief, we can adjust policy and practice accordingly to collectively optimise wellbeing for transnational migrants. © 2023

Stillbirth Grief, Eco-grief and Corona Grief: Reflections on Denialism

This chapter draws on the author's stillbirth experience in August 2019 and her specialization in human rights to explore "disenfranchised grief” (Doka) in the context of current environmental loss and of mourning related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In so doing, the chapter raises seminal questions about what is (non)-human, what is grievable, and how do dehumanization and denialism operate. This work outlines the main parallels between the disenfranchised grief of PAIL (pregnancy and infant loss), the eco-grief of environmental losses, and the grief currently emerging in the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter explores how historically the grief of stillbirth was rendered taboo until even today. It then draws parallels to the denialism of grief in eco-grief and the COVID-19 pandemic, alluding to examples of dehumanization, disgust, repression of emotions, or techno-medicalization. The chapter investigates ways to counter these disenfranchising discourses by examining how PAIL groups resist this denialism and dehumanization. The chapter scrutinizes discourses of lamentation, embodiment, sentimentalism, and memorialization-to then probe their viability in a post-COVID world. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Black death and mourning as pandemic

Black bodies have been the site of devastation for centuries. We who inhabit and love these bodies live in a state of perpetual mourning. We mourn the disproportionate dying in our families, communities and the dying in the black diaspora. We are yet to come to terms with the death that accompanied the AIDS pandemic. Tuberculosis breeds in the conditions within which most of us live. We die from hours spent in the belly of the earth where we dig for minerals to feed the unquenchable thirst of capital. Malaria targets our neighbors with deathly accuracy. Ebola stalks west Africa where it has established itself as a rapacious black disease. It kills us. In the black diaspora, African Americans are walking targets for American police who kill and imprison them at rates that have created a prison industrial complex. Africans die in the Mediterranean ocean and join the spirits of ancestors drowned centuries ago. With South Africa as the point of departure, this paper stages a transcontinental examination of black death. It is animated by the following questions. What are the dimensions of black death, what is its scale and how is it mourned? What does the COVID-19 pandemic mean for we who are so intimately familiar with death? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

THE ASSOCIATION OF GRIEF WITH MENTAL HEALTH AND THE ROLE OF LONELINESS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In this study, we aimed to gauge the effects of the process of bereavement on mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore the mediating role of loneliness on the relationship between grief and mental health alterations by surveying a representative sample of 2000 Spanish adults interviewed by phone during the pandemic (February-March 2021). There has also been an increase in death rates from other causes during the pandemic, sometimes attributed to treatment for other life-threatening diseases being postponed or health care visits being avoided to prevent infection (Stroebe & Schut, 2021). By contrast, a group of bereaved (10 % after natural death and 50% after death due to unnatural causes) experience intense grief that persists longer than what would normally be expected (Djelantik et al., 2020), characterized by an enduring and overwhelming sense of yearning or preoccupation with the deceased and significant emotional suffering that causes functional impairment in daily life. Some authors have stated that researchers studying mental health in relation to the pandemic should include grief as a potential contributory factor (Bertuccio & Runion, 2020).

Prolonged Grief in Times of Lockdown During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of prolonged grief (PG) during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze associated variables. 142 family members of patients who died during the lockdown at a hospital were surveyed 6 months after the death. Prolonged grief, depression and anxiety, grief rumination, and loss-related variables were captured. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to detect the associated variables of PG symptoms. Prolonged grief was present in 44.4% of the bereaved. 76.2% of the relatives reported feeling distressed due to visitor restrictions, and the majority of them were unable to bid farewell to their family member at the time of death. Pastoral or psychological care was also lacking. Low education (p < 0.001), emotional closeness (p = 0.007), loss of a spouse (p < 0.001), inability to bid farewell after death (p = 0.024), feeling of threat due to the pandemic (p < 0.001), depression (p = 0.014), and anxiety (p = 0.028) were significantly associated with prolonged grief.

Developmental Manifestations of Grief in Children and Adolescents: Caregivers as Key Grief Facilitators.

The death of a loved one represents one of the most distressing and potentially traumatic life events in childhood and adolescence. Grief reactions in youth are influenced by ongoing developmental processes and manifest differently depending on the child's age and developmental stage. These grief-related processes unfold within youths' caregiving context, as children and adolescents rely heavily on the adults in their environment to navigate and cope with the death of a loved one. Despite the field's increasing recognition of the potential for maladaptive grief reactions to impede functioning over time, few longitudinal research studies on childhood grief currently exist. In this article, we will (a) provide a brief overview of the childhood bereavement literature; (b) review the new DSM-5 and ICD-11 Prolonged Grief Disorder diagnostic criteria through a developmentally-informed lens; (c) describe how grief reactions manifest in children and adolescents of different ages through the lenses of multidimensional grief theory and relational developmental systems theory; (d) highlight key moderating factors that may influence grief in youth, and (e) discuss a primary moderating factor, the caregiving environment, and the potential mechanisms through which caregivers influence children's grief.

[Nursing Experience of Using Caring Theory in Caring for an Patient in Isolation Facing Bereavement].

A nursing experience using caring theory to care for the grief experienced by a patient with COVID-19 during their period of isolation from June 4 to June 15, 2021 is described in this article. The patient was assessed using physical, psychological, social, and spiritual framework assessments. Data were collected using care, observation, interviews, and medical records. The healthcare problems were identified as inefficient breathing patterns, anxiety, and grief. The patient transmitted COVID-19 to her father, who subsequently died of related respiratory failure. During the nursing process, we used a mobile application (app) to provide the patient with information about novel coronavirus pneumonia to relieve her anxiety. When the patient was physically unwell, we delivered drugs and oxygen, and provided comfortable prone position and breathing training to resolve her low-efficiency breathing patterns. Also, we cooperated with the psychological and spiritual team to resolve the patient's psychological problems, used hand-painted illustrations and words to provide encouragement, and provided information on the hospital's funeral services provider to help complete her father's funeral arrangements to reduce her sense of grief. It is suggested that, in the clinical care of similar patients, nurses should pay more attention to their psychological problems. In addition, nurses may use the concepts of caring theory to integrate a holistic approach, provide patient-specific resources, and accompanying the patient through the process of grief. This nursing experience may be used as a reference in the future care of similar patients to improve the quality of clinical nursing care.

Living with loss: a cognitive approach to prolonged grief disorder - incorporating complicated, enduring and traumatic grief - ADDENDUM.

The subject of prolonged, complicated and traumatic grief has become more topical as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. CBT practitioners have been asked to provide effective therapeutic responses for clients with enduring distressing grief reactions. These enduring grief conditions have now been categorised as Prolonged Grief Disorder in the two main mental health classification systems: in the ICD -11 in November 2020 and as a revision to the DSM-5 in 2021. In this paper we draw on our research and clinical experience in applying cognitive therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD) to traumatic bereavement to derive lessons for the treatment of prolonged grief. During the pandemic the authors of this paper delivered several workshops on prolonged grief disorder (PGD) during which clinicians raised several thought-provoking questions; how do we differentiate between normal and abnormal or pathological grief; how do we categorise pathological grief; how effective are existing therapies and is there a role for CBT; and how do our experiences with Cognitive Therapy for PTSD help with conceptualisation and treatment of PGD. The purpose of this paper is to answer these important questions and in so doing, consider the historical and theoretical concepts relating to complex and traumatic grief, factors that differentiate normal grief from abnormal grief, maintenance factors for PGD and implications for CBT treatments.

Corrigendum: COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate impact on childhood bereavement for youth of color: reflections and recommendations.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fped.2023.1063449.].

Caring for Grieving Congregations in South Africa After the Death of Their Pastors from COVID-19

The death of pastors to coronavirus (COVID-19), in Newer Pentecostal Churches (NPCs), presents spiritual challenges to these congregations who find it difficult to accept that their miracle-working pastors can die from such a pandemic, often seen in demonic terms. The chapter discusses multiple dimensional losses experienced by a congregation when their leader dies of a pandemic such as COVID-19. This chapter further examines the pastoral framework of assisting NPCs believers to respond meaningfully to the loss of their spiritual leaders. It proposes the elements that should characterise the pastoral framework that can facilitate healing for congregations who are grieving a pandemic caused death of their pastors. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Does the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale Measure Coronaphobia the Same Way for Mourners With and Without Dysfunctional Grief?

Deaths from COVID-19 have exceeded 6.5 million people globally. Although many people are mourning the loss of loved ones to this deadly disease, little is known about the validity of measuring coronavirus-related anxiety with this particular group of people. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine if the coronavirus anxiety scale (CAS) measures the coronaphobia construct the same way for mourners with and without dysfunctional levels of grief. The results indicated that the four-item version of the CAS has acceptable fit indices and is partially invariant between people with dysfunctional and non-dysfunctional grief. Moreover, the CAS demonstrated adequate criterion validity and reliability with this group of bereaved adults. In conclusion, the CAS can be used to measure anxiety due to COVID-19 in people who are going through dysfunctional and non-dysfunctional grieving processes. © The Author(s) 2023.

Helping children grieve the loss of a caregiver due to COVID-19

The modeling study calculated COVID-19-associated or-phanhood(deathof 1 orbothparents) and deaths of custodial and coresid-ing grandparents by using mortality, fertility, and census data. The 3-pronged approach aims to: O prevent C0VID-19-associated death of caregivers through effective and equitable policies and practices that improve access and uptake of C0VID-19vaccines;O prepare families, offering support and services to help the child experiencing loss of a parent or primary caregiver;O protect children through programs that build resilience in the family, enhance parenting skills, and improve family relationships.1 Pediatric health care providers are uniquely positioned to help children grieving caregiver loss from COVID-19. Developing clinical action steps to address this pandemic-related trauma and the grief that follows is important and should incorporate the following steps: O Screen for COVID-19 related caregiver loss: "Has this child lost a parent or other caregiver to COVID-19?" Since Pediatrics published those study results, the number of children orphaned due to COVID-19 has risen to an estimated 200,000-plus.5 Health care providers play a critical role in raising awareness, protecting families, and intervening when children experience the loss of a parent or other caregiver to COVID-19.

Clinical listening: Experience of a grieving mother in times of COVID-19

The aim of this article is to present the dynamics of a clinical situation with a mother bereaved by the death of her child victimized by COVID-19, through a theoretical-clinical study based on the phenomenological method. From the perspective and bases of the clinical phenomenological-existential, we will show a psychotherapeutic action in which grief is understood beyond the criteria positioned by the DSM-5. In phenomenological research on maternal mourning, mourning is understood as something of the order of the inescapable and the immeasurable. It is with this understanding of the affection of the bereaved that we will present the dynamics of a clinical performance of a 50-year-old woman attended by the Applied Psychology Service of a public university. We emphasize that the silence of the psychotherapist, during the care of the bereaved mother, favored that the mother felt understood in her pain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Portuguese) O objetivo deste artigo e apresentar a dinamica de uma situacao clinica com uma mae enlutada pela morte de seu filho vitimado pelo COVID -19, por meio de um estudo teorico-clinico pautado no metodo fenomenologico. Em uma perspectiva clinica com bases fenomenologico-existenciais, mostraremos uma atuacao psicoterapeutica em que o luto e compreendido para alem dos criterios posicionados pelo DSM-5. Nas pesquisas fenomenologicas acerca do luto materno, o luto e compreendido como algo da ordem do incontornavel e do imensuravel. E com essa compreensao do afeto dos enlutados que apresentaremos a dinamica de uma atuacao clinica de uma mulher de 50 anos atendida pelo Servico de Psicologia Aplicada de uma universidade publica. Destacamos que o silencio do psicoterapeuta, durante o atendimento da mae enlutada, favoreceu que a mae se sentisse compreendida em sua dor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Spanish) El objetivo de este articulo es presentar la dinamica de una situacion clinica con una madre afligida por la muerte de su hijo victima de COVID-19, a traves de un estudio teorico-clinico basado en el metodo fenomenologico. Desde una perspectiva clinica con bases fenomenologicas-existenciales, mostraremos una accion psicoterapeutica en la que el dolor se entiende mas alla de los criterios posicionados por el DSM-5. En la investigacion fenomenologica sobre el duelo materno, el luto se entiende como algo del orden de lo ineludible y lo inconmensurable. Es con esta comprension del afecto de los afligidos que presentaremos la dinamica de un desempeno clinico de una mujer de 50 anos a la que asistio el Servicio de Psicologia Aplicada de una universidad publica. Hacemos hincapie en que el silencio de la psicoterapeuta, durante el cuidado de la afligida madre, favorecio que la madre se sintiera comprendida en su dolor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

‘The one thing guaranteed in life and yet they won't teach you about it': The case for mandatory grief education in UK schools

Nearly all British children are bereaved of someone close to them by the time they turn 16 and, with the Covid-19 pandemic and world humanitarian crises across the news and social media, they are being exposed to more anxiety about death than ever before. Learners need to be taught about grief and death to prepare them to manage bereavement and support others. As it stands, although teaching resources exist and some curriculum guidance documents mention loss or death, there is no statutory requirement for schools anywhere in the UK to cover grief or bereavement and many pupils have no classes about these difficult topics. This article consolidates the case for grief education in schools. We discuss six key questions to examine evidence that children benefit from talking about grief, death and loss;the current provision for grief education in UK schools;the obstacles to teaching these topics and ways to overcome them;and the potential further implications of a policy change. Following the lead of child bereavement charities, research and new national reports on UK bereavement support, we demonstrate the need for mandatory grief education in all four countries of the UK and offer evidence-based recommendations for its implementation. © 2023, Cruse Bereavement Care. All rights reserved.

Training MSW Students for Integrated Behavioral Health Care During COVID-19: Lessons Learned from Two Programs

This article describes how two Southeastern social work programs delivered integrated behavioral healthcare training to MSW students and social work practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 posed challenges across five domains, including: (a) adaptations to course curricula;(b) adaptations to field education curricula;(c) experiences of grief, distress, and behavioral health issues by stakeholders;(d) organizational strain to universities and departments;and (e) effects on clients and the community. This article describes specific ways in which these two training programs were impacted in these five areas and modified in response, as well as similarities and differences experienced across institutions. Implications for these training programs, and social work education programs in general, are offered.

When support is "pawsed": Increased attachment mediates the association between loss of support and pet bereavement during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced and exacerbated innumerable stressors for Americans. Pet ownership has been shown to help individuals cope with stress and loneliness. However, given the shorter life spans of most pets compared to humans, many pet owners inevitably dealt with pet loss and its associated grief during the pandemic. We surveyed 284 community and college participants that had suffered the loss of a pet during the pandemic. We asked these pet owners about their pandemic-related experiences over the preceding year with regard to the types of losses they experienced, whether they experienced isolation through quarantine and their perception of social support. We also measured their general attachment to pets along with the grief they felt as a result of pet loss. We hypothesized that greater loss, increased isolation, and reduced social support would lead to increased attachment to pets, which would intensify the experience of grief. Mediated regression analyses revealed a direct effect of loss on grief that was not mediated through attachment. Unexpectedly, greater perceived social support showed an indirect effect on grief through stronger attachment to pets. Results confirm prior findings that greater pet attachment leads to more intense pet grief, but the attachment was not intensified through loss of support social or increased isolation as predicted. It is important to recognize the substantial impact of pet loss, especially during stressful times, and this topic deserves further investigation, perhaps with a greater focus on the type of pet and pet-specific measures of attachment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Asian Americans and grief in the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical analysis of the literature

The present study is a critical analysis of the literature about Asian Americans and grief during the COVID-19 pandemic. This dissertation provides an inclusive review and impression of the existing literature on Asian Americans' grief reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the discussion of the need to disaggregate Asian American data. The literature provides a history of Asian American immigration and demographics. Current literature identifies how Asian American subgroups differ in grief responses and the increase in xenophobia towards Asian Americans since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations are made regarding the continued efforts to disaggregate Asian American data and complete further research on the grief response of Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)