Gary Witham, Natalie G Regier, Martha Abshire Saylor, Sarah Allgood, Samantha Curriero, Tamryn F Gray, Elifnur Gunes, Bryan R Hansen, Reena Levy, Katie E Nelson, Claire M Petchler, Rebecca Singer Cohen, Rebecca Wright
{"title":"A scoping review of global patterns in reporting race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion in palliative care randomized controlled trials: Recommendations for transparency.","authors":"Gary Witham, Natalie G Regier, Martha Abshire Saylor, Sarah Allgood, Samantha Curriero, Tamryn F Gray, Elifnur Gunes, Bryan R Hansen, Reena Levy, Katie E Nelson, Claire M Petchler, Rebecca Singer Cohen, Rebecca Wright","doi":"10.1177/02692163241291352","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241291352","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Though randomized controlled trials of non-pharmacological palliative care interventions have shown positive outcomes, findings are often generalized with limited consideration for the impact of the influence of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion on said outcomes.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To identify trends and gaps in global reporting of racial, ethnic, nationality, and religious demographics in non-pharmacological palliative care randomized controlled trials.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>We conducted a scoping review guided by the Joanna Briggs methodology.</p><p><strong>Data sources: </strong>Global randomized controlled trials published in English, between 1999 and 2021 extracted from databases: Cochrane, PubMed, and Scopus. Inclusion criteria were non-pharmacological palliative care interventions for people with serious conditions reporting on one or more of the demographics of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our review included 131 (44%) articles published from 19 countries, predominantly the USA (<i>n</i> = 84, 64%). Most studies focused on cancer (<i>n</i> = 71, 54%) in inpatient settings (<i>n</i> = 85, 64%). Race was the most commonly reported demographic (<i>n</i> = 93, 70%), followed by ethnicity (<i>n</i> = 54, 41%), religion (<i>n</i> = 46, 35%), nationality (<i>n</i> = 20, 15%). Within racial reporting, 86 (92%) indicating a majority White/Caucasian sample. Only 14 (10%) articles provided context connecting participant demographics to intervention outcomes. Demographic data was discussed only as a limitation to generalizability in 18 cases (41%).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Improving greater transparency in study reporting of social and historical context about population demographics, including specific demographic data collected, may better identify unmet palliative needs, facilitate cross-cultural interpretation, and improve adaptation and implementation of non-pharmacological palliative care interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241291352"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142639143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Megan Walls, Austin Claffey, David Mockler, Miriam Galvin
{"title":"Working with people living with motor neurone disease and the impact on professionals' emotional and psychological well-being: A scoping review.","authors":"Megan Walls, Austin Claffey, David Mockler, Miriam Galvin","doi":"10.1177/02692163241291745","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241291745","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Integrated multidisciplinary care is required to manage the progressive and debilitating symptoms associated with motor neurone disease. Professionals can find providing the level of care required by this population clinically and emotionally challenging. To support those working with these patients it is important to understand the experience of the entire multidisciplinary team involved and the impact of working with motor neurone disease on their emotional and psychological well-being.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To identify what is known about (1) healthcare professionals' experience of working with motor neurone disease and (2) the impact of this work on their emotional and psychological well-being.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Scoping review. Review protocol registered on Open Science Framework.</p><p><strong>Sources: </strong>Five electronic databases were searched in January 2023 and 2024. Grey literature and hand searches were completed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Fifty-one sources published between 1990 and 2023 were included. A total of 1692 healthcare professionals are represented. Three main categories were identified: (1) The demands of providing motor neurone disease care. (2) Factors influencing professionals' ability to provide desired levels of care. (3) The emotional impact of working with motor neurone disease. Subcategories are depicted within these.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Positive experiences included job satisfaction, enhanced perspective and receiving gratitude, while negative implications such as stress, emotional exhaustion and burnout also featured. The demands of motor neurone disease patient care, the organisation of services and resources required to meet patient and family needs and the emotional burden for professionals involved, warrant greater recognition in clinical practice, guidelines and future research.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241291745"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142625270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Claudia Virdun, Elise Button, Jane L Phillips, Catherine H Saunders, Patsy Yates, Tim Luckett
{"title":"Feasibility and acceptability of the brief patient-reported experience measure consideRATE within the hospital setting for patients with palliative care needs, their families/carers and clinicians.","authors":"Claudia Virdun, Elise Button, Jane L Phillips, Catherine H Saunders, Patsy Yates, Tim Luckett","doi":"10.1177/02692163241291343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241291343","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Supporting clinical teams to improve care for inpatients with palliative care needs and their carers is a known priority. Patient reported experience measures (PREMs) may assist in improvement work. Evidence about how to collect and feedback PREM data for this population and context is required.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To determine the feasibility of implementing a brief, validated PREM, consideRATE and appraise its acceptability as perceived by inpatients with palliative care needs, their carers and clinicians.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A prospective study using: 1) PREM administration, screening log and field note completion; and; 2) a focus group with clinicians.</p><p><strong>Setting/participants: </strong>Eligible participants recruited from three wards (cancer care and internal medicine) of an Australian tertiary metropolitan hospital. Participants included patients screened to have palliative care needs (using the SPICT<sup>TM</sup> criteria), their carers and multidisciplinary clinicians (including clinical managers).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong><i>Feasibility</i>: A 71% response rate was achieved (<i>n</i> = 80 from 112 eligible patients approached). Mean screening time to inform eligible patients for PREM completion was 7.5 min. More than half of eligible participants (<i>n</i> = 47, 59%) opted for electronic completion of consideRATE and mean completion time was 6.12 min. A third of participants required assistance for PREM completion (<i>n</i> = 27, 34%). Score distribution varied across response options, albeit with a positive skew towards 'very good' and 'good'. Two thirds of respondents (<i>n</i> = 50, 62.5%) provided ⩾1 free-text response. <i>Acceptability</i>: Clinicians valued consideRATE data noting feedback needed to be: accessible, supported by free-text and responsive to local contexts.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>It is feasible to implement consideRATE for inpatients with palliative care needs. Clinicians note consideRATE data is acceptable in informing improvement foci.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241291343"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142625266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Madhurangi Perera, Ureni Halahakone, Sameera Senanayake, Sanjeewa Kularatna, William Parsonage, Patsy Yates, Gursharan K Singh
{"title":"Components of home-based palliative and supportive care for adults with heart failure: A scoping review.","authors":"Madhurangi Perera, Ureni Halahakone, Sameera Senanayake, Sanjeewa Kularatna, William Parsonage, Patsy Yates, Gursharan K Singh","doi":"10.1177/02692163241290350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241290350","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Palliative care and supportive care provided in the home for people with heart failure can improve quality of life, caregiver wellbeing and reduce healthcare costs. Identifying components of home-based palliative and supportive care in heart failure is useful to inform tailored care to people with heart failure.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To identify and describe components of home-based palliative and supportive care in adults with heart failure.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A scoping review was undertaken in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines. The protocol was registered prospectively with the Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GHCME).</p><p><strong>Data sources: </strong>Embase, PubMed, CINAHL and Cochrane databases were searched from inception in May 2023 and re-run in January 2024. Original research focussed on palliative and supportive care in the home setting that included adults diagnosed with heart failure who have not undergone nor awaiting a heart transplant was included.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results were extracted from 13 papers based on eight studies. The findings highlight that nurses supported by a multidisciplinary team, providing symptom management, patient and carer education and discussion of goals of care and advance care planning, facilitates home-based palliative and supportive care for people with heart failure.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Ensuring patient and caregiver-centred care supported by a multidisciplinary team is essential to delivering home-based palliative and supportive care for people with heart failure. Further research focussed on the role of digital interventions in home-based palliative and supportive care, the composition of the multidisciplinary team and research which includes individuals across all stages of heart failure is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241290350"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142546730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andy Bradshaw, Naomi Richards, Jamilla A Hussain, Joanna M Davies
{"title":"We need to talk about social class: Why theories of social class matter for understanding inequities in palliative and end-of-life care.","authors":"Andy Bradshaw, Naomi Richards, Jamilla A Hussain, Joanna M Davies","doi":"10.1177/02692163241296478","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241296478","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241296478"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142546731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amy Brown, Sarah Yardley, Ben Bowers, Sally-Anne Francis, Lucy Bemand-Qureshi, Stuart Hellard, Antony Chuter, Andrew Carson-Stevens
{"title":"Multiple points of system failure underpin continuous subcutaneous infusion safety incidents in palliative care: A mixed methods analysis.","authors":"Amy Brown, Sarah Yardley, Ben Bowers, Sally-Anne Francis, Lucy Bemand-Qureshi, Stuart Hellard, Antony Chuter, Andrew Carson-Stevens","doi":"10.1177/02692163241287639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241287639","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>About 25% of palliative medication incidents involve continuous subcutaneous infusions. Complex structural and human factor issues make these risk-prone interventions. Detailed analysis of how this safety-critical care can be improved has not been undertaken. Understanding context, contributory factors and events leading to incidents is essential.</p><p><strong>Aims: </strong>(1) Understand continuous subcutaneous infusion safety incidents and their impact on patients and families; (2) Identify targets for system improvements by learning from recurrent events and contributory factors.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Following systematic identification and stratification by degree of harm, a mixed methods analysis of palliative medication incidents involving continuous subcutaneous infusions comprising quantitative descriptive analysis using the <b>P</b>at<b>I</b>ent <b>SA</b>fety (PISA) classification system and qualitative narrative analysis of free-text reports.</p><p><strong>Setting/participants: </strong>Palliative medication incidents (<i>n</i> = 7506) reported to the National Reporting and Learning System, England and Wales (2016-2021).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>About 1317/7506 incidents involved continuous subcutaneous infusions with 943 (72%) detailing harms. Primary incidents (most proximal to patient outcomes) leading to inappropriate medication use (including not using medication when it was needed) were underpinned by breakdowns in three major medication processes: monitoring and supply (405, 31%), administration (383, 29%) and prescribing (268, 20%). Recurring contributory factors included discontinuity of care within and between settings, inadequate time, inadequate staffing and unfamiliarity with protocols. Psychological harms for patients and families were identified.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>System infrastructure is needed to enable timely supply of medication and equipment, effective coordinated use of continuous subcutaneous infusions, communication and continuity of care. Training is needed to improve incident descriptions so these pinpoint precise targets for safer care.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241287639"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142505532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Allison M Kurahashi, Grace Kim, Natalie Parry, Vivian Hung, Bhadra Lokuge, Russell Goldman, Mark Bernstein
{"title":"Feasibility of prospective error reporting in home palliative care: A mixed methods study.","authors":"Allison M Kurahashi, Grace Kim, Natalie Parry, Vivian Hung, Bhadra Lokuge, Russell Goldman, Mark Bernstein","doi":"10.1177/02692163241288774","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241288774","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Prospectively tracking errors can improve patient safety but little is known about how to successfully implement error reporting in a home-based palliative care context.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>Explore the feasibility of implementing an error reporting system in a home-based palliative care program in Toronto, Canada, and describe the possible factors that may influence uptake.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A convergent mixed-methods approach was used. Participants prospectively documented errors using a novel reporting tool and completed monthly surveys. Following the reporting period, we conducted a semi-structured interview exploring participants' experiences and perceived factors influencing reporting behaviors. Error, survey, and interview data were analyzed separately, then integrated for comparison.</p><p><strong>Setting and participants: </strong>Thirteen palliative care physicians from a single home-based palliative care organization in Toronto, Canada anonymously reported errors between October 2021 and September 2022. Of these, six participated in the exit interview.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Participants reported 195 errors; one-third (<i>n</i> = 65) involved internal staff or systems. Three themes describe the factors impacting the likelihood of reporting errors: (1) High levels of cognitive burden decreases the likelihood of error reporting; (2) Framing errors as opportunities to learn rather than reason for punishment improves likelihood of error reporting; (3) Knowing that error data will improve patient safety motivates individuals to report errors.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Physicians are amenable to error reporting activities so long as data is used to improve patient safety. The collaborative nature of care in a home-based palliative care context may present unique challenges to translating error reporting to improved patient safety.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241288774"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142472103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joshua Gallagher, Bárbara Antunes, James Sutton, Isla Kuhn, Michael P Kelly, Robbie Duschinsky, Stephen Barclay
{"title":"Self-care towards the end of life: A systematic review and narrative synthesis on access, quality and cost.","authors":"Joshua Gallagher, Bárbara Antunes, James Sutton, Isla Kuhn, Michael P Kelly, Robbie Duschinsky, Stephen Barclay","doi":"10.1177/02692163241286110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241286110","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Policy and practice encourages patients to engage in self-care, with individual patient management and remote monitoring of disease. Much is known of the moderate stage of chronic disease, without a clear understanding of how self-care applies towards the end of life.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To review the current evidence on practices of self-care in life-limiting conditions and its impacts on healthcare utilisation, quality of life and associated costs.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>We systematically searched 10 scientific databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, Social Work Abstracts and Health Management Information Consortium) from inception to October 2023 with citation and hand searching. A narrative synthesis was undertaken, with quality and relevance assessed using Gough's Weight of Evidence framework. Titles and abstracts were independently screened by three researchers.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Findings from 33 studies revealed self-care as increasingly burdensome or unfeasible towards the end of life, with patients delaying use of professional care. Self-care became increasingly burdensome for patients, carers and professionals as illness progressed. Self-monitoring may exacerbate hospitalisations as patients delayed seeking professional help until crises arose. Findings regarding quality were inconclusive, with some evidence suggesting that self-care can decrease care costs.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This review has shown that research on self-care is an evolving area of study, with a current focus on acute care and hospitalisations. Future research should seek to provide a more complete account of the relation between self-care and non-acute care use, and quality, with further efforts to study self-care costs incurred through self-funding.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241286110"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142472105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Philip D Austin, Wei Lee, Robyn Keall, Melanie R Lovell
{"title":"Efficacy of spiritual interventions in palliative care: An umbrella review of systematic reviews.","authors":"Philip D Austin, Wei Lee, Robyn Keall, Melanie R Lovell","doi":"10.1177/02692163241287650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241287650","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Spiritual care is increasingly recognised as an essential component of care in palliative settings. Given this growing body of literature on spiritual interventions, there is a need to systematically evaluate and synthesis findings from previous systematic reviews.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To systematically synthesise the available evidence from systematic reviews concerning (a) the efficacy of spiritual care interventions and (b) the extent and nature of spiritual care interventions used in specialist palliative care settings.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An umbrella review of systematic reviews was conducted in accordance with PROSPERO (CRD42024455147) and followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for umbrella reviews.</p><p><strong>Data sources: </strong>Electronic databases (Ovid Medline, Embase, APA PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CINAHL and Web of Science) and references of accepted systematic reviews were searched for systematic reviews from inception to 2024. The AMSTAR-2 criteria was used to assess risk of bias within systematic reviews.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A toal of 27 reviews met the eligibility criteria and reported the effects of 14 different spiritual care interventions across 431 studies including 55,759 participants. Findings show that spiritual care interventions especially dignity therapy and life-review may be effective for improving outcomes including spiritual wellbeing, emotional symptoms, quality-of-life and physical symptoms in people receiving specialist palliative care. Under half of included reviews report follow-up data where only emotional symptoms and quality-of-life are reported in more than one review.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Overall, spiritual care interventions have positive effects on spiritual wellbeing, quality of life and mood, compared to control conditions. Increased methodological rigour is needed to capture effect and duration of effect with spiritual care interventions at different phases of palliative care.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241287650"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142472102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Finucane, Anne Canny, Ally Pax Arcari Mair, Emily Harrop, Lucy E Selman, Brooke Swash, Donna Wakefield, David Gillanders
{"title":"A rapid review of the evidence for online interventions for bereavement support.","authors":"Anne Finucane, Anne Canny, Ally Pax Arcari Mair, Emily Harrop, Lucy E Selman, Brooke Swash, Donna Wakefield, David Gillanders","doi":"10.1177/02692163241285101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163241285101","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Grieving is a natural process, and many people adjust with support from family and friends. Around 40% of people would benefit from additional input. Online bereavement support interventions may increase access to support. Evidence regarding their acceptability and effectiveness is emerging but needs to be synthesised.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To synthesise evidence on the feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, impacts and implementation of online interventions to improve wellbeing, coping and quality of life after bereavement.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>A rapid review of evidence regarding online bereavement support. We appraised study quality using AMSTAR 2 and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.</p><p><strong>Data sources: </strong>English language articles published 1 January 2010 to 4 January 2024, using Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase and APA PsycINFO. Eligible articles examined formal and informal online interventions to improve bereavement outcomes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We screened 2050 articles by title and abstract. Four systematic reviews and 35 individual studies were included. Online bereavement support was feasible, acceptable and effective in reducing grief intensity, stress-related outcomes and depression. Where reported, participant retention was typically >70%. Positive impacts included: access to a supportive community at any time, reduced isolation; opportunities to process feelings; normalisation of loss responses; access to coping advice and opportunities for meaning-making and remembrance. Negative impacts included upset due to insensitive comments from others via unmoderated online forums.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Online interventions can widen access to acceptable, effective bereavement support and improve outcomes for bereaved people. National policies and clinical guidelines relating to bereavement support need to be updated to take account of online formats.</p>","PeriodicalId":19849,"journal":{"name":"Palliative Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"2692163241285101"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142472101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}