Analysis of family grief members in the context of COVID-19: an integrative review

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i12.34675

Keywords:

COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Bereavement; Grief.

Abstract

The unique circumstances of deaths amidst a pandemic can negatively affect the loss adaptation of relatives COVID-19 victims, favoring the appearance of disorders related to grief. This study is an integrative review that aimed to present another face of mortality from the disease in order to contribute to the reorganization of care services for family members. Were used as databases MEDLINE via PubMed, Europe PubMed Central, Virtual Health Library and Scientific Electronic Library Online. Were included reports published between 2020-2021. As a result of applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 08 studies were selected for bibliometric analysis, methodological topics and content. Studies shown that the characteristic trauma of grief experienced during the pandemic includes multiple deaths, the feeling of helplessness and guilt and the lack of funeral ceremonies. The main results of this review revealed grief related to COVID-19 favors functional impairment contributed functional impairment, in addition to symptoms of pathological grief in the bereaved. The importance of good communication between the health team and family members and the social support found by family members on social networks such as Facebook was also evidenced. It is concluded with the study that the adaptation of families to bereavement had interference of the new circumstances of care and contact with patients imposed by the pandemic.

Author Biographies

Tuani Dias Barbosa, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Physician graduated from the Federal University of Sergipe. Physician with a scholarship from the Doctors for Brazil Program linked to the Agency for the Development of Primary Care in the area of Family and Community Medicine. She has professional experience in the hospital, clinical, community and public health areas. Interest and research in the areas of Public Health and Mental Health.

Maria Suely Silva Melo, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Physician graduated from the Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health of the Bahiana Foundation for the Development of Sciences and a Master's degree in Community Health from the Collective Health Institute of the Federal University of Bahia, also trained in Internal Medicine, Pulmonology, Homeopathy and other integrative practices, such as Natural Medicine and healthy eating according to alternative theories, chromotherapy and Reiki master. Lecturer in some medical institutions in Bahia, having been transferred from UFBA to UFS, Lagarto pole for six years, currently working in subjects of educational practices in the community, medical skills and in the subject of health and spirituality studies.

Danielle Alves Menezes, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Psychologist, Graduate and Licentiate from the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS). Specialist in Neuropsychology from Tiradentes University (UNIT). Master in Psychology in the Health and Human Development line of research from the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS). Member of the Study and Research Group in Health Psychology (GEPPS/UFS). She is a psychologist at Hospital Universitário de Lagarto (HUL/SE). She has professional experience in the hospital, clinical, educational, community and public health areas. Fields of interest and research in Neurosciences, Health Psychology, Chronic Pain, Cognition and Subjectivity, Suicide, Ethics and Clinical Mental Health.

References

Breen, L. J. (2020). Grief, loss and the COVID-19 pandemic. Australian Journal of General Practice, 49, 1–2. https://doi.org/10.31128/AJGP-COVID-20

Cardoso, E. A. D. O., Silva, B. C. D. A. D., Santos, J. H. D., Lotério, L. D. S., Accoroni, A. G., & Santos, M. A. D. (2020). The effect of suppressing funeral rituals during the COVID-19 pandemic on bereaved families. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 28. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.4519.3361

Chen, C., & Tang, S. (2021). Profiles of grief, post-traumatic stress, and post-traumatic growth among people bereaved due to COVID-19. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12(1), 1947563. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1947563

Delor, J. P. M., Borghi, L., Cao di San Marco, E., Fossati, I., & Vegni, E. (2021). Phone follow up to families of COVID‐19 patients who died at the hospital: families’ grief reactions and clinical psychologists' roles. International Journal of Psychology, 56(4), 498–511. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12742

Djelantik, A., Smid, G. E., Mroz, A., Kleber, R. J., & Boelen, P. A. (2020). The prevalence of prolonged grief disorder in bereaved individuals following unnatural losses: systematic review and meta regression analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 265, 146–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.034

Eisma, M. C., Boelen, P. A., & Lenferink, L. I. (2020). Prolonged grief disorder following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Psychiatry Research, 288, 113031. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113031

Eisma, M. C., Tamminga, A., Smid, G. E., & Boelen, P. A. (2021). Acute grief after deaths due to COVID-19, natural causes and unnatural causes: An empirical comparison. Journal of Affective Disorders, 278, 54-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.049

Estevão, A. (2020). COVID-19. Acta Radiológica Portuguesa, 32(1), 5–6. https://doi.org/10.25748/arp.19800

Firouzkouhi, M., Alimohammadi, N., Abdollahimohammad, A., Bagheri, G., & Farzi, J. (2021). Bereaved families views on the death of loved ones due to COVID-19: an integrative review. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 00302228211038206. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228211038206

Fuller, J. A., Hakim, A., Victory, K. R., Date, K., Lynch, M., Dahl, B., & Henao, O. (2021). Mitigation policies and COVID-19–associated mortality – 37 European countries, January 23 – June 30, 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(2), 58–62. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7002e4

Hård Af Segerstad, Y., & Kasperowski, D. (2015). A community for grieving: affordances of social media for support of bereaved parents. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, 21(1-2), 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614568.2014.983557

Hieftje, K. (2012). The role of social networking sites in memorialization of college students. In C. Sofka, I. Cupit, & K. Gilbert (Eds.), Dying, death, and grief in an online universe (pp. 31–46). Springer.

Kentish-Barnes, N., Cohen-Solal, Z., Morin, L., Souppart, V., Pochard, F., & Azoulay, E. (2021). Lived experiences of family members of patients with severe COVID-19 who died in intensive care units in France. JAMA Network Open, 4(6), e2113355-e2113355. 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13355

Kochen, E. M., Jenken, F., Boelen, P. A., Deben, L. M., Fahner, J. C., van den Hoogen, A., Teunissen, S. C. C. M., Geleijns, K., & Kars, M. C. (2020). When a child dies: a systematic review of well-defined parent-focused bereavement interventions and their alignment with grief and loss theories. BMC Palliative Care, 19(28), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-020-0529-z

Kokou-Kpolou, C. K., Fernández-Alcántara, M., & Cénat, J. M. (2020). Prolonged grief related to COVID-19 deaths: do we have to fear a steep rise in traumatic and disenfranchised griefs? Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S94. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000798

Lee, S. A., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2020). Pandemic Grief Scale: a screening tool for dysfunctional grief due to a COVID- 19 Loss. Death Studies, 46(1), 14–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1853885

Lenferink, L. I., Nickerson, A., de Keijser, J., Smid, G. E., & Boelen, P. A. (2020). Trajectories of grief, depression, and posttraumatic stress in disaster‐bereaved people. Depression and Anxiety, 37(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22850

Luiz, F. F., Caregnato, R. C. A., & Costa, M. R. D. (2017). Humanization in the Intensive Care: perception of family and healthcare professionals. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 70(5), 1040–1047. https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2016-0281

Lundorff, M., Holmgren, H., Zachariae, R., Farver-Vestergaard, I., & O’Connor, M. (2017). Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder in adult bereavement: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 212, 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.01.030

Milman, E., Neimeyer, R. A., Fitzpatrick, M., MacKinnon, C. J., Muis, K. R., & Cohen, S. R. (2019). Rumination moderates the role of meaning in the development of prolonged grief symptomatology. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 75(6), 1047–1065. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22751

Ministério da Saúde. (2022). Painel Coronavirus. Coronavírus Brasil. https://covid.saude.gov.br

Mohammadi, F., Oshvandi, K., Shamsaei, F., Cheraghi, F., Khodaveisi, M., & Bijani, M. (2021). The mental health crises of the families of COVID-19 victims: a qualitative study. BMC Family Practice, 22(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-021-01442-8

Mortazavi, S. S., Assari, S., Alimohamadi, A., Rafiee, M., & Shati, M. (2020). Fear, loss, social isolation, and incomplete grief due to COVID-19: a recipe for a psychiatric pandemic. Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, 11(2), 225. https://doi.org/10.32598/bcn.11.covid19.2549.1

Neimeyer, R. A., & Lee, S. A. (2021). Circumstances of the death and associated risk factors for severity and impairment of COVID-19 grief. Death Studies, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2021.1896459

Romanoff, B. D., & Terenzio, M. (1998). Rituals and the grieving process. Death Studies, 22(8), 697–711. https://doi.org/10.1080/074811898201227

Shimizu, K. (2020). Risk factors of severe prolonged grief disorder among individuals experiencing late-life bereavement in Japan: a qualitative study. Death Studies, 46(2), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2020.1728427

Souza, C. P. D., & Souza, A. M. D. (2019). Funeral rituals in the process of mourning: meaning and functions. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa, 35, e35412. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102.3772e35412

Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (2010). The dual process model of coping with bereavement: a decade on. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 61(4), 273–289. https://doi.org/10.2190/OM.61.4.b

Testoni, I., Azzola, C., Tribbia, N., Biancalani, G., Iacona, E., Orkibi, H., & Azoulay, B. (2021). The COVID-19 Disappeared: from traumatic to ambiguous loss and the role of the internet for the bereaved in Italy. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 564. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.620583

Verdery, A. M., Smith-Greenaway, E., Margolis, R., & Daw, J. (2020). Tracking the reach of COVID-19 kin loss with a bereavement multiplier applied to the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(30), 17695–17701. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2007476117

Virdun, C., Luckett, T., Lorenz, K., Davidson, P. M., & Phillips, J. (2017). Dying in the hospital setting: a meta-synthesis identifying the elements of end-of-life care that patients and their families describe as being important. Palliative Medicine, 31(7), 587–601. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216316673547

Wallace, C. L., Wladkowski, S. P., Gibson, A., & White, P. (2020). Grief during the COVID-19 pandemic: considerations for palliative care providers. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 60(1), 70–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2020.04.012

Whittemore, R., & Knafl, K. (2005). The integrative review: updated methodology. Journal of advanced nursing, 52(5), 546-553. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2005.03621.x

World Heath Organization (2022). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019?adgroupsurvey={adgroupsurvey}&gclid=CjwKCAjwp_GJBhBmEiwALWBQk1fOWLpe-ZD0wnB3VctvHNSVQ46bhHs8zGNuBpSof1R4lu5OqJpPGhoCzXwQAvD_BwE

Wright, A. A., Keating, N. L., Balboni, T. A., Matulonis, U. A., Block, S. D., & Prigerson, H. G. (2010). Place of death: correlations with quality of life of patients with cancer and predictors of bereaved caregivers’ mental health. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 28(29), 4457–4464. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2009.26.3863

Published

23/09/2022

How to Cite

BARBOSA, T. D. .; MELO, M. S. S. .; MENEZES, D. A. . Analysis of family grief members in the context of COVID-19: an integrative review. Research, Society and Development, [S. l.], v. 11, n. 12, p. e545111234675, 2022. DOI: 10.33448/rsd-v11i12.34675. Disponível em: https://rsdjournal.org/index.php/rsd/article/view/34675. Acesso em: 20 apr. 2024.

Issue

Section

Health Sciences