Grief that is not acknowledged and worked through may manifest itself in some emotional, mental or physical problem. In recent years much has been learned about coping with grief which the hospice porgram can utilize to help family members cope
with
their grief. This study was carried out to determine the helpfulness of the bereavement care of Severance Hospice and to learm more about the grief resp[onse of the bereaved.
The tools used to collect data were an assessment form used in the bereavement program and the Grief Experience Inventory developed by Sanders and revised and translated by the researcher. Data was obtained from bereaved family members (54 for
the
final
grief assessment and 39 for the grief response assessment) receiving bereavement follow-up, from July 1989 to March 1991.
@ES Results of the study were as follows:
@EN 1. Final Grief Assessment
@Regarding the resolution of their grief the majority of the bereaved accepted the reality of the death of their family ember, while slightly more than three-quarters were to express their feelings toward their loss. A langs majorty had returned
to
activities of daily living well or fairly well and had reinvested their energy in a person other than the deceased. In addition, the physical condition of the majority was good or fairly good. A majority of the bereaved considered the bereavement
care
to be helpful and almost three-quarters were not considered to be in need of more follow-up.
2. Grief Response Assessment
Age was found to have a modoerately positive correlation to appetite disturbance (r=.41, P<.01) and loss of vigor (r=.37, P<.01) A moderately positive correlation was found between the number of contacts and sleep disturbance (r=2.38, P<.01)
Significant differences were found between men and women in regard to guilt (t=2.38, P<.05), social isolation (t=2.44, P<.05) and depersonalization (t=2.07, P<.05) with men having the more intense grief.
Significant differences were found in the grief responses of spomatization (F=5.82, P<.001), physical symptoms (F=5.87, P<.001), appetitie disturbance (F=4.40, P<.01), despair (3.79, P<.01), anger (Fp2.83, P<.05), social isolation (F=3.61,
P<.05),
guilt
(F=3.62, P<.05) and depersonalization (F=2.58, P<.05). In the first six of these grief responses mothers scored highest, followed by husbands and then wives, In the grief response of guilt, daughters scored highest and on the grief response of
depersonalization sons scored highest.
Only one grief response, that of sleep disturbance (t=-2.19, P<.05) was found to be statistically significant, with those family members who died at home having the higher scores.
Based on the results of this study several suggestions are presented as follows:
1. Since unresolived grief can have a detrimental effect on the bereaved person's mental and physical health it would be good for the nurse to include questions related to death of family members and the bereaved person's response to the grief,
in
her
nursing assessment. And in the case of unresolved grief the nurse should encourage the person to talk with a trusted friend or counselor and express their fellings of grief.
2. A study to determine the degree of resolution of the grief of those in the bereavemnet program could be carried out by use of the Grief Experience Inventory early in their bereavement and again 13 months after the death of their family
member.
3. A comparison of the grief response of the bereaved in the bereavement program and bereaved not in the program could be carried out using the Grief Experience Inventory.
4. After bereavement progrms have been started in other hospice programs it would be good to carry out a joint sutdy of bereavement outcomes of those in the bereavemnet programs.
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