Navigating grief in unprecedented times: risk factors in the wake of pandemic loss and end-of-life care.

Coronavirus is an infectious disease that has left tens of millions of deaths around the world, and which has had social, economic, emotional, and psychological consequences. To mitigate the spread of the virus, several countries have adopted restrictive measures that impacted the way people experienced the end-of-life and the death of their loved one. This study aimed to identify the variables associated with prolonged grief symptoms in the context of both pandemic-related losses and the unique challenges related to end-of-life care.

Validation of the Portuguese version of the Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale (ISLES) in a sample of bereaved individuals.

The Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale (ISLES) evaluates the ability to integrate stressful experiences into one's meaning system. The present study developed and validated a version of this scale for a bereaved Portuguese-speaking population, utilizing a sample of 242 adults who had lost a significant other to diverse causes of death. The sample was predominantly female, educated, married, or in consensual unions, and actively employed.

The rise of home death in the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study of death certificate data for adults from 32 countries, 2012-2021.

Background: During the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) pandemic, health systems had to respond to the needs of COVID-19 patients, while caring for patients with other life-threatening conditions. Pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, stir global health and mortality patterns. This is likely to include trends in dying places.

Patient and Family Preferences About Place of End-of-Life Care and Death: An Umbrella Review.

Context: The place where people are cared towards the end of their life and die is a complex phenomenon, requiring a deeper understanding. Honoring preferences is critical for the delivery of high-quality care.

Objectives: In this umbrella review we examine and synthesize the evidence regarding preferences about place of end-of-life care and death of patients with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

Utrecht grief rumination scale (UGRS): Psychometric study of validation of the Portuguese version.

Grief rumination is characterized by recurring, repetitive, self-focused thoughts about the causes and consequences of loss and loss-related emotions. This cognitive process is a transdiagnostic risk factor for mental disorders, such as prolonged grief. The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale (UGRS).

Caregiving and bereavement in palliative care: A cross-cultural study between Brazil and Portugal.

Caregiving and bereavement outcomes are strongly influenced by socio-cultural context. Past research has found higher levels of caregiver burden and psychological morbidity in Portuguese compared to Brazilian caregivers. This study compared Brazilian and Portuguese family caregivers in palliative care to identify differences in psychological morbidity and caregiver burden and their relationship with psychosocial factors such as sociodemographic variables, circumstances of end-of-life care and dying, social support, family functioning, and perception of quality of care.

[Circumstances and consequences of care: a prospective study in palliative care].

The sundry circumstances that affect end-of-life care can have a determining role in the result of this experience, particularly in psychological morbidity levels before and after bereavement. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence of psychopathological symptoms and overburden among family caregivers in palliative care and to identify the circumstances associated with care provision. An attempt was made to evaluate the progress of psychopathological symptoms, identifying circumstantial factors that can interfere in acute grief.

[Circumstances and consequences of care: characterization of the family caregiver in palliative care].

Family caregivers play an important role in advanced disease patient care. The goal of this study was to characterize the family caregiver in palliative care, evaluating the circumstances and consequences of care and preparation for the loss of the loved one. This is a quantitative, prospective and longitudinal study.

[Burden of caregiving and its repercussions on caregivers of end-of-life patients: a systematic review of the literature].

Caring for a family member with an advanced and/or terminal illness can be a great emotional, physical and financial burden that has an impact on the quality of life of the caregivers. The scope of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the burden of caregiving, related factors and the consequences for family caregivers of advanced stage cancer patients or patients in end-of-life or palliative care. A search for scientific papers published in the EBSCO, Web of Knowledge and BIREME databases was conducted since records on this topic began in the databases through March 2014.

Family dynamics during the grieving process: a systematic literature review.

The loss of a loved one can affect family dynamics by changing the family system and creating the need for family members to reorganize. Good family functioning, which is characterized by open communication, expression of feelings and thoughts and cohesion among family members, facilitates adaptive adjustment to the loss. This study conducted a systematic review of the literature on family dynamics during the grieving process.

Palliative Care Caregivers' Grief Mediators: A Prospective Study.

The aim of the study is to identify the mediators of complicated grief in a Portuguese sample of caregivers. Grief mediators were prospectively evaluated using a list of risk factors completed by the palliative care team members, during the predeath and bereavement period. More than 6 months after the death, we applied PG-13 to diagnose prolonged grief disorder (PGD).

Prolonged Grief in Palliative Family Caregivers: A Pilot Study in a Portuguese Sample.

Caregivers are particularly vulnerable to experience intense levels of distress following the loss. The aim of this prospective pilot study is to determine the incidence of prolonged grief disorder symptoms among caregivers. A total of 73 bereaved families responded to the Prolonged Grief Disorder Evaluation Instrument (PG-13) at 6 and 12 months following their loss.

[Validation of prolonged grief disorder instrument for Portuguese population].

This study aims to validate the Portuguese population the instrument PG-13 (Prolonged Grief Disorder), created by Prigerson et al. (2007) for diagnosis of prolonged grief, whose criteria are: the experience of loss generating intense longing and yearning for the deceased that extends for a period exceeding six months; emotional, cognitive and behavioral symptoms, dysfunction and meaningful life social and occupational functioning. The population includes 102 caregivers of patients accompanied by Support Team Palliative Care, Hospital Santa Maria.