A Nationwide Survey on Bereavement Care at Home-visit Nursing Stations

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To investigate the present situation and to explore future problems in bereavement care. Methods: A questionnaire survey was mailed to approximately 1,000 home-visit nursing stations throughout Japan. Results: A total of 296 (29.8%) valid responses were returned. Of the responding stations, 6.1% answered that they “positively perform” bereavement care, 73.1% “perform [it] when necessary,” and 20.7% “seldom perform” bereavement care. A total of 91.4% of the responding stations provided bereavement care by visiting nurses after a patient’s death. A total of 73.6% of the responding stations always performed care in the form of appreciation for their efforts. A total of 32.4% of the responding stations contacted related organizations to request that the organizations watch bereaved family members who suffered from dementia but lived alone. Reasons for not contacting related organizations included not knowing which organization to contact (17.5% of the responding stations). Conclusion: Approximately 90% of the responding stations provided bereavement care by visiting nurses after the patient’s death, with emotional support as the main activity. Visiting nurses were asked to acquire abilities 1) to provide bereaved families with information about health and welfare services that could be used in addition to long-term care insurance to rebuild their lives, 2) to ascertain which bereaved families would need continuous support, and 3) to assign these bereaved families to relevant organizations.