ReviewPalliative medicine2025
A rapid review of the evidence for online interventions for bereavement support.
Review in Palliative medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for anticipatory grief in informal caregivers for people living with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Gerontologist · 2026Pooled it
- Family Bereavement Support Interventions in Specialist Adult Palliative Care: A Rapid Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Pooled it
- Mobile-Based Ecological Momentary Interventions for Grief in China and Switzerland: Protocol for a Collaborative and Iterative Qualitative App Development Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Shifting to online and telephone bereavement support provision during the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed methods study of bereavement service provider perspectives and lessons learnt for current practice.Palliative medicine · 2026Article
- A protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial of an online cancer bereavement group.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2026Article
- Support needs, support use and perceived helpfulness of support in a cohort of people bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from a longitudinal survey.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Cross-cultural assessment of prolonged grief symptomatology in Switzerland, Rwanda, and Viet Nam: protocol for an experience sampling study.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Internet-Delivered Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (iCBT) for Spanish-Speaking Adults with Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD): A Randomized Feasibility Trial.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Potential Role of Palliative Care and Hospice in Addressing Prolonged Grief Disorder in the United States.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2025Article
- Article
- Palliative care professionals' perceptions of their skills and the implementability of evidence-based bereavement care guidance: A cross-sectional survey study.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundGrieving is a natural process, and many people adjust with support from family and friends. Around 40% of people would benefit from additional input. Online bereavement support interventions may increase access to support. Evidence regarding their acceptability and effectiveness is emerging but needs to be synthesised.
aimTo synthesise evidence on the feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, impacts and implementation of online interventions to improve wellbeing, coping and quality of life after bereavement.
designA rapid review of evidence regarding online bereavement support. We appraised study quality using AMSTAR 2 and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. DATA SOURCES: English language articles published 1 January 2010 to 4 January 2024, using Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase and APA PsycINFO. Eligible articles examined formal and informal online interventions to improve bereavement outcomes.
resultsWe screened 2050 articles by title and abstract. Four systematic reviews and 35 individual studies were included. Online bereavement support was feasible, acceptable and effective in reducing grief intensity, stress-related outcomes and depression. Where reported, participant retention was typically >70%. Positive impacts included: access to a supportive community at any time, reduced isolation; opportunities to process feelings; normalisation of loss responses; access to coping advice and opportunities for meaning-making and remembrance. Negative impacts included upset due to insensitive comments from others via unmoderated online forums.
conclusionOnline interventions can widen access to acceptable, effective bereavement support and improve outcomes for bereaved people. National policies and clinical guidelines relating to bereavement support need to be updated to take account of online formats.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.