Bereaved relatives’ quality of life before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results of the prospective, multicenter, observational eQuiPe study

Abstract

Background: The death of a loved one is considered as one of the most stressful life events. During the COVID-19 pandemic, grief processes are potentially affected by measures such as social distancing and self-quarantine. Aim: The aim of this study was to give insight in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of life, social support, and self-care of bereaved relatives of people with advanced cancer in order to evaluate whether care for bereaved relatives during the COVID-19 pandemic should be improved. Design: A cross-sectional analysis using data from bereaved relatives of a prospective, longitudinal, multicenter, observational study on quality of care and quality of life of people with advanced cancer and their (bereaved) relatives (eQuiPe). Setting/participants: Quality of life, social support, and self-care of bereaved relatives who completed a questionnaire within 3–6 months after their relative died during COVID-19 (April-November 2020) were compared with bereaved relatives who completed this questionnaire pre-COVID-19 (April-November 2019). Results: Ninety-one bereaved relatives were included in the analysis, 44 bereaved relatives completed the questionnaire pre-COVID-19 and 47 during COVID-19. The median age of the participants was 65 (IQR = 14) years and 58% were female. There were no significant differences between the pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19 bereaved relatives in quality of life (68 vs 69), social support (17 vs 18), and self-care (20 vs 19). Conclusions: On the short-term, the COVID-19 pandemic did not have significant impact on bereaved relatives’ wellbeing. However, long-term impact of the pandemic on their wellbeing should be assessed.

Quality of life among health care workers in Arab countries 2 years after COVID-19 pandemic

“…Death of relatives decreased the mean score of all domains, yet, only the physical and environmental domains were significantly affected in this study. To the contrary, Ham et al ( 48 ), found that the COVID-19 pandemic had no substantial influence on the wellbeing of grieving families in the short term. We speculate that the effect was not apparent as the sample size was relatively small ( n = 91), which may not be representative of the population.…”

Risk factors associated with poorer experiences of end-of-life care and challenges in early bereavement: Results of a national online survey of people bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This is crucial given discrepancies in emerging evidence. 41 – 43 The experiences of bereaved men and people from Black and minority ethnic communities during the pandemic require further investigation.…”

Place, cause and expectedness of death and relationship to the deceased are associated with poorer experiences of end-of-life care and challenges in early bereavement: Risk factors from an online survey of people bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Further research is needed to examine the impact of end-of-life care experiences and pandemic-related social challenges on bereavement outcomes, and to determine the prevalence of poor bereavement outcomes including prolonged grief disorder among people bereaved during the pandemic, with comparisons to non-pandemic times. This is especially crucial given some discrepancies in emerging evidence [39][40][41] . The experiences of bereaved men and people from black and minority ethnic communities during the pandemic require further research.…”