Bereavement services for families and peers of deceased residents of psychiatric institutions.
Families of patients who die while receiving care in an acute care setting face issues of loss and grief; other patients and staff members may also face these issues. Although informal bereavement services may exist in some settings, there often is no formally established bereavement service designed to assist surviving family members, patients, and staff members. Social work, with its concern for the social aspects of patients' lives, is the logical profession to provide leadership in establishing and providing formal bereavement assistance. The results of a literature search suggest that few such formalized services exist. A planned bereavement service may considerably lighten the burden for family survivors and for patients and staff, especially when the deceased has developed relationships within the acute care facility. An exemplar bereavement service is presented using data from the few existing or proposed efforts to formalize bereavement services in acute care settings.
Fauri
D P
DP
School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23284-2027.
Grimes
D R
DR
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001601:Bereavement; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006783:Hospitals, State; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010379:Peer Group; D012949:Social Work, Psychiatric / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014768:Virginia