Development and implementation of a bereavement follow-up intervention for grieving fathers: an action research.

Aims And Objectives: The aim is to present the development and implementation of a bereavement follow-up intervention for grieving fathers. The development and implementation process and components of the intervention are presented.

Background: There is a lack of research into fathers' grief and bereavement support for them after the death of a child. Promotion of evidence-based nursing requires transparent development and implementation of nursing interventions and models to be able to repeat, evaluate their effectiveness and redevelop them.

Design: Phases of action research were used when developing and implementing the intervention.

Methods: Results of the baseline study of father's grief and social support, the study of current bereavement support and the literature review were combined using triangulation.

Results: In this action research, the development of a bereavement follow-up intervention for grieving fathers began with the planning phase that included a baseline study about fathers' grief and social support, a study of current bereavement support systems in Finnish university hospitals and a systematic review of literature on the topic area and collaboration with a panel of experts. The developed bereavement follow-up intervention included three complementary components: support package, peer supporters' contact and health care personnel's contact. Implementation of the intervention included the development of a programme to be used in nursing practice, intervention training for programme implementers and intervention implementation.

Conclusions: Developing and implementing an intervention is a complex, demanding and long-term process. The planning required theoretical knowledge as well as understanding the experiences of fathers, nursing practice and collaboration with those who implemented the intervention.

Relevance To Clinical Practice: New information about the fathers' grief and bereavement follow-up support is described. The model developed is evidence-based and can be applied in nursing care where grieving fathers and families are met.