Caring for End-of-Life Patients and Their Families, During Life, and Mourning, in the COVID-19 Era—The Experience of a Palliative Care Team in Portugal

Carvalheiro, Ana Mafalda; Faria, Catarina; Semeão, Isabel; Martinho, S

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.624665

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Although not reported by the participants, we witnessed the postponement of mourning rituals, prioritizing the fight against the public health threat, to the detriment, for example, of funeral rituals. Farewell rituals promote quality of life for family members and can contribute favorably to the resolution of grief [ 23 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Palliative Care: Perspective of Healthcare Professionals

Tavares¹,

Rodrigues²,

Neto³

2021

Cureus

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The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the provision of Palliative Care (PC), challenging the teams aiming to provide adequate care. This is a qualitative study that intends to know, from the perspective of health professionals of a Palliative Care Unit (PCU), the main challenges in providing PC during a pandemic and describes the strategies to be adopted to solve the identified difficulties. We utilized the content analysis, according to Bardin, for data analysis of written narratives of health professionals from a PCU (n=14). In the analysis of the difficulties in providing PC, from the perspective of health professionals, were identified five themes: 1) Altered relationship between healthcare professional and patients, 2) altered relationship between healthcare professional and family, 3) altered communication with patients and their family, 4) altered working dynamic within the PCU, and 5) altered use of healthcare resources. Concerning the strategies to be implemented, the health professionals identified two themes: 1) Strategies to implement between the patient and family members and 2) strategies to implement for the healthcare professionals. The provision of PC is affected by changes in the relationship between the health professional and the patient/caregiver or family, in communication with the patient/caregiver or family, and the use of health resources. In an attempt to lessen the impact of these changes, participants identified strategies to improve PC delivery in these circumstances. During this pandemic, it is imperative to implement rigorous strategies for managing specialized human resources. Physical distance and personal protective equipment are barriers to communication and emotional support, which is essential in PC and this barrier is further accentuated by the required physical distance from family members and caregivers. PC´s main aim continues to be the mitigation of suffering.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pandemic instigated anxiety and strain on health professionals. The fear of becoming infected and infecting other people prevails, causing a feeling of impotence [ 23 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of COVID-19 on Palliative Care: Perspective of Healthcare Professionals

Tavares¹,

Rodrigues²,

Neto³

2021

Cureus

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“…This is important because the taboo of death also extends to "words taboo" and strongly contributes to grief stigmatization and disenfranchised grief symptoms. Also, although death rituals and mourning practices are highly dependent on the cultural context (5,36), the COVID-19 pandemic has created a global scenario with commonalities for people in all nations [i.e., (19,(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)]. The most important commonalities are the psychological burden associated with confinement (43), the inability to say goodbye or to perform rituals according to believes and culture, and the measures of physical distancing, all of them considered risk factors for traumatic and disenfranchised grief in people with low resistance or resilience (19,35,44,45).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Ethnography Study of a Viral YouTube Educational Video in Ecuador: Dealing With Death and Grief in Times of COVID-19

Giménez-Llort

2021

Front. Psychiatry

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In Western societies, death is a social and educational taboo. Poor education about death and mourning processes and overprotective family and social attitudes move children away from death to avoid “unnecessary suffering.” The COVID-19 outbreak highlighted these shortcomings and the difficult management of grief's complexity under sudden and unexpected scenarios. The need for immediate and constant updates related to COVID-19 benefited from social media coverage's immediacy. The use of YouTube as a digital platform to disseminate/search for knowledge exploded, raising the need to conduct ethnographic studies to describe this community's people and culture and improve the booming social media's educational capacity and quality. The present virtual ethnography studied 255,862 YouTube views/users and their behavior related to “Vuela Mariposa, Vuela,” a children's story available online since 2009 (not monetized) about the cycle of life, death, and disenfranchised grief (not acknowledged by society) that went viral (+>999%) on May. To our knowledge, this case study is the first original research that explores the ethnography of (i) a viral video, (ii) on death and grief taboo topics, (iii) for prescholars, and (iv) before and during the COVID pandemic. The quantitative and qualitative analyses identified a change in the users' profiles, engagement, and feedback. During the previous 11 years, the users were 35–44 years old Mexican and Spanish women. Those in grief used narrative comments to explain their vital crisis and express their sorrow. In the pandemic, the analysis pointed to Ecuador as the virality geographical niche in a moment when the tragic scenarios in its streets were yet unknown. The timeline match with the official records confirmed the severity of their pandemic scenario. The viral video reached a broad population, with normal distribution for age, and including male gender. Engagement by non-subscribers, direct search (traffic sources), and mean visualization times suggested educational purposes as confirmed by the users' feedback with critical thinking referring to the cycle of life's meaning and societal mourning. For the youngest users, the video was part of academic assignments. The ethnography pointed at YouTube as a flexible education resource, immediately reaching diverse users, and being highly sensitive to critical events.

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“…News of death is often regarded as the most painful event a family will receive, 3,4 and it is the start of the grief and grieving process. 5 Healthcare providers lack the knowledge and skills to provide care to grieving families. Relatives are often found isolated and crying during the terminal phases of their loved one's life.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Relatives are often found isolated and crying during the terminal phases of their loved one's life. 5…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Palliative Care Services in Pandemics and Emergencies Preparedness and Response Plans

Saadi

2022

Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J

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Caring for End-of-Life Patients and Their Families, During Life, and Mourning, in the COVID-19 Era—The Experience of a Palliative Care Team in Portugal

Cited by 7 publications

References 28 publications

The Impact of COVID-19 on Palliative Care: Perspective of Healthcare Professionals

The Impact of COVID-19 on Palliative Care: Perspective of Healthcare Professionals

An Ethnography Study of a Viral YouTube Educational Video in Ecuador: Dealing With Death and Grief in Times of COVID-19

Integrating Palliative Care Services in Pandemics and Emergencies Preparedness and Response Plans

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