Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33658262›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2021

'A silent epidemic of grief': a survey of bereavement care provision in the UK and Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Caroline Pearce, Jonathan R Honey, Roberta Lovick, Nicola Zapiain Creamer, Claire Henry, Andy Langford, Mark Stobert, Stephen Barclay

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
39citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
11.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 93 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Caroline PearcePrimary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK cmp89@medschl.cam.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4653-2697
Jonathan R HoneySchool of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Roberta LovickPrimary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Nicola Zapiain CreamerArthur Rank Hospice, Cambridge, UK.
Claire HenryPrimary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Andy LangfordCruse Bereavement Care, Richmond, UK.
Mark StobertAddenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK.
Stephen BarclayPrimary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
University of Cambridge · GBAddenbrooke's Hospital · GBHospice UK · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo investigate the experiences and views of practitioners in the UK and Ireland concerning changes in bereavement care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

designOnline survey using a snowball sampling approach.

settingPractitioners working in hospitals, hospices, care homes and community settings across the UK and Ireland.

participantsHealth and social care professionals involved in bereavement support.

interventionsBrief online survey distributed widely across health and social care organisations.

results805 respondents working in hospice, community, and hospital settings across the UK and Ireland completed the survey between 3 August and 4 September 2020. Changes to bereavement care practice were reported in: the use of telephone, video and other forms of remote support (90%); supporting people bereaved from non-COVID conditions (76%), from COVID-19 (65%) and people bereaved before the pandemic (61%); funeral arrangements (61%); identifying bereaved people who might need support (56%); managing complex forms of grief (48%) and access to specialist services (41%). Free-text responses demonstrated the complexities and scale of the impact on health and social care services, practitioners and their relationships with bereaved families, and on bereaved people.

conclusionsThe pandemic has created major challenges for the support of bereaved people: increased needs for bereavement care, transition to remote forms of support and the stresses experienced by practitioners, among others. The extent to which services are able to adapt, meet the escalating level of need and help to prevent a 'tsunami of grief' remains to be seen. The pandemic has highlighted the need for bereavement care to be considered an integral part of health and social care provision.

Indexed as

BereavementCOVID-19Hospice CarePandemicsSocial SupportHumansIrelandSurveys and QuestionnairesUnited KingdomCOVID-19palliative careprimary carequalitative research

Identifiers

PMID33658262
PMCPMC7931210
OpenAlexW3135209339

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.