AI Article Synopsis

  • Grief negatively impacts health and increases the use of medical services, but there's limited data on the financial costs involved.
  • Traditional funerals offer emotional support that can help mitigate grief, with research indicating that better participation in funerals leads to less severe grief, while poverty worsens it.
  • A study of 165 bereaved families in Japan found that deeper grief is linked to more physical health issues and medical costs, and dissatisfaction with funerals can lead to higher healthcare expenses, particularly for low-income families.

Article Abstract

Grief has been shown to weaken bereaved persons' health, but measurements of their lost time and medical expense remain rare. Funerals traditionally managed and assuaged grief through ritual expression, approval, and social support. Research suggests that satisfying funeral participation reduces grief, while poverty exacerbates it. We hypothesized that: (1) psycho-physical symptoms of grief, (2) abbreviation/dissatisfaction in the funeral, and (3) poverty, correlate with decreased productivity and increased medical and social services use. We collected data from 165 mourning families about their grief, funerals, and subsequent medical conditions. (1) Deeper grief after bereavement in Japan correlated with more physical problems, more down time, and more medical dependency. (2) Low satisfaction with funerals correlated with higher hospital, pharmacy, and counseling costs. (3) Low income families lost more time, while declining incomes showed increased pharmaceutical costs. This suggests that satisfying funerals and income safeguards may reduce costs of low productivity and increased public services dependency.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9277332PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0030222820947573DOI Listing

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