Bereavement Management - Description, Assessment and Care

University of Aarhus402 enrolled

Overview

This study aims to develop a risk assessment tool to identify bereaved in risk of complicated grief reactions and to implement a bereavement management programme in primary health care based on the Dual Process Model of coping with bereavement. Furthermore to enhance bereavement care in general practice and to enhance patients' self-management in bereavement care.

In Denmark alone there are approximately 55.000 deaths annually which leave approximately 200.000 bereaved close relatives. International studies show that 10-15% of bereaved persons develop complications following the death of a close relative. If those studies hold true, approximately 20 - 30.000 individuals annually will develop complications as a result of suffering a loss, and there is hardly any knowledge of how bereavement is treated or even legitimized in primary care and referred on to specialized (psychological or psychiatric) care. The field of bereavement is in need of studies that validate the theoretical underpinnings of the research area, enhanced assessment of predictive risk factors and updated intervention methods: in short a scientifically valid management programme.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

402

Conditions

Bereavement Grief

Interventions

Prognostic screening for complicated griefOTHER

Patients in the intervention group are prognostically screened for development of complicated grief to identify those in need of help.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Newly bereaved from one of the inclusion facilities. * 18 years or older. * Danish citizen. * Able to understand and speak Danish. * Informed consent. * Mentally able to cooperate Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with known substance abuse. * Patients with recently (within 5 years) diagnosed psychopathological disorders that trigger psychotic episodes.

Locations (1)

Research Unit for General Practice

Aarhus, Denmark

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Effect of the intervention measured by an increase in the diagnosis of complicated grief.

GPs receive updated information on bereavement related symptoms, how to identify complicated grief, and the Dual Process Model of coping.

Time frame: 20 months

Secondary Outcomes

Effect of the intervention measured by register-based data.

Effect of the intervention measured by register-based data on frequency in contact with GP, referrals to psychological/psychiatric counselling, medicine consumption and use of emergency services.

Time frame: 20 months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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