Meaningful Messages From Grief Workshop Participants: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Grief Counseling
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Healthcare providers in acute care settings often feel unprepared to deliver quality bereavement care due to time constraints and inexperience.
• This inadequacy results in unmet needs for grieving families and potential burnout among staff.
• There is a recognized need for improved bereavement support within healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the social process of a bereavement education workshop for healthcare providers.
• To understand how the workshop influences the delivery of holistic care to dying patients and their families.
• To identify participants' perceptions, learnings, and integration of the workshop into practice.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative study employing constructivist grounded theory.
• Interviews were conducted with past participants of the "How to Care, What to Say" bereavement workshop.
• Data from individual interviews and focus groups were analyzed and synthesized.

Main Results:

• Participants' perceptions, learnings, and potential integration of workshop content into practice were revealed.
• The study identified key elements for effective bereavement care delivery.
• An overarching theory emerged regarding the relational process of providing grief support.

Conclusions:

• The workshop facilitated a relational process involving knowledge acquisition, self-awareness, and moral responsibility.
• Healthcare providers' grief competencies can be advanced through targeted education.
• Effective bereavement care requires a holistic, relational approach encompassing the entire grieving process.