Nursing Care Strategies for Grief and Bereavement

Abstract

Introduction: Grief is a person’s reaction to loss. Bereavement is a state of experience after loss that causes a great deal of distress and sorrow. Providing nursing care and support for patients and families is crucial. Nurses have key role for development and implementation of bereavement care in health care settings considering the negative health consequences associated with the complicated grief.

Methods: Sources of evidence are retrieved from a large number of databases and resources. A review of literature and journal publications was conducted by searching through various databases, including PubMed, Cochrane, and Google Scholar. Key terms “ Grief” “Bereavement” “Anticipatory Grieving” “Nursing care for bereaved individual”, “Nursing care for bereaved family” were used to search nursing care strategies for the bereaved individual and family members.

Results: The evidence shows a variety of nursing interventions for the efficient management of loss and grief includes acknowledging the loss, engaging in active listening, and allowing family caregivers to express their feelings, offering grief support counselling.

Conclusion: Grief and bereavement are a normal reaction after loss. Each individual has unique way to respond with loss of their loved ones. The majority of individuals adjust to the loss in their own way but very few may need professional consultation and treatment for the management of complicated grief.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62143/y8wnfk45