The Kübler-Ross Five Stages of Grief Model: A Framework for Human-Centered Health Informatics

The Kübler-Ross Five Stages of Grief Model (KR model) is examined in the context of human-centered health informatics. The KR model is positioned as a non-linear set of heuristics which can assist in contextualizing the complexities of human cognitive-emotional processing of distressing events (e.g., organizational change, technology implementation, trauma). Thus, unique perspectives can be provided in each conceptual stage: 1) Denial and Isolation, 2) Anger, 3) Bargaining, 4) Depression, 5) Acceptance. This scoping review sought to: 1) Examine the application of the KR model in the design, evaluation or implementation of healthcare technology, 2) Determine if the KR model has been used to guide context specific user-experience (UX) activities (i.e., persona creation, journey mapping) to understand the patient, physician, nurse or caregiver experiences. The findings underscored that the KR model has various healthcare applications and use, however it remains underutilized as a valuable tool to contextualize human experiences.