Daily life after the death of a loved one: A systematic review of daily diary and ecological momentary assessment studies

Abstract

The death of a loved one is a common yet potentially traumatic event that can impact bereaved people’s daily lives substantially. However, bereavement experiences have been investigated mostly with cross-sectional surveys, which provide limited information about bereaved people’s everyday functioning. Intensive longitudinal methods (ILM) that collect self-reports once (daily diary; DD) or multiple times (ecological momentary assessment; EMA) a day allow researchers to examine momentary variations in bereaved people’s everyday experiences. In this preregistered study, we aimed to systematically review studies that investigated the daily life of bereaved people using ILM. We searched for English peer-reviewed journal articles in Scopus, PubMed, and PsycINFO. After title, abstract, and full-text screening of 230 records, 18 articles were included in the final review. Fourteen studies used DD, and four used EMA designs. Studies examined four topics: a) the acceptability, feasibility, and reactivity effects of ILM among bereaved people, b) emotions and emotion regulation strategies, c) sleep quality, and d) romantic relationships. While the acceptability, feasibility, and reactivity effects of ILM were investigated by both DD and EMA studies, the latter three topics were examined only by DD studies. The studies show that DD and EMA are acceptable and feasible methods among bereaved people. DD studies showed that experiences of positive emotions and affectionate touch were related to better psychological outcomes, such as intimacy, while there were inconsistent associations between grief and sleep quality. ILMs appear to offer valuable yet largely untapped potential for capturing dynamic experiences of grief in bereavement research.