Developing a practice-based research agenda for grief and bereavement care

Abstract

We aimed to identify practitioners' perspectives on current research priorities in grief and bereavement care. Grief and bereavement care providers were invited to participate in a three-phase Delphi study to create expert consensus on the top priorities for grief and bereavement research. A total of 140 participants completed Phase 1, 84 completed Phase 2, and 70 completed Phase 3. These top 10 research priorities form the basis of a practice-based research agenda for grief and bereavement care to enable researchers to respond to key issues in grief and bereavement care that will ultimately improve the lives of bereaved people.

Gaps in Hospice and Palliative Care Research: A Scoping Review of the North American Literature

“…Studies discussing research gaps under the clinical theme comprised 56% of all papers found ( n = 14) [ 12 , 15 , 17 – 21 , 23 , 26 , 27 , 30 , 31 , 33 , 35 ].…”

“…Last, 1 paper (4%) addressed gaps that existed within the subtheme pertaining to practitioners' understanding of grief and bereavement such as the grief process including growth and resilience, how to differentiate grief from a mental illness, and how to refer those grieving to the appropriate services [ 21 ]. As well, there was a lack of research into EoL decision-making and the relationship between advance care planning and advance directives with grief [ 21 ].…”

“…Caregiving was a theme in 32% of papers ( n = 8) [ 12 , 16 , 21 , 23 , 28 , 31 , 34 , 35 ], and the literature also revealed research gaps in terms of support for caregivers of those in EoL. It was found that gaps existed in mental health and emotional support for caregivers [ 23 , 31 ].…”

“…Thus, gaps existed in understanding through evidence how caregivers prepared for their role and how they adjusted following the death of the individual they were caring for [ 16 ]. Moreover, there was little knowledge on how EoL grief impacted family caregivers and the specific relationship between caregiving and grief alongside a lack of bereavement services [ 12 , 21 , 31 ].…”

“…The purpose of this scoping review was to gather an understanding from the current literature about the gaps and needs in HPC/EoL research. There were 25 studies included in the review, and although a majority were from North America, there were some ( n = 6) included from outside of North America [ 13 , 16 , 18 , 21 , 24 , 32 ] as they could easily be applied to a North American context. Overall, there were limited studies exclusively addressing gaps in palliative care found during the search phase, which suggested that perhaps there was not enough focus in the field of palliative care research on what was needed for improvement.…”