A Phenomenological and Clinical Description of Pandemic Grief: How to Adapt Bereavement Services?

Background: Some studies suggest that individuals having lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic report higher levels of grief reactions than people bereaved from natural causes. Little is known about the lived and subjective experience of individuals who lost a loved one under confinement measures.

Aim: This research aims to provide a phenomenological description of pandemic grief (PG) that can be useful in clinical settings and bereavement services.

Methods: Seventy-six qualitative phenomenological interviews have been conducted with 37 individuals who have lost a loved one during the first wave of the pandemic. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was performed following Tracy's criteria for rigorous qualitative research.

Results: The experience of PG comprises clinical manifestations and can be described as "a type of grief occurring in the context of a pandemic, where applicable public health measures have precedence over end of life and caregiving practices as well as funeral rituals, overshadowing the needs, values, and wishes of the dying individuals and those who grieve them."

Discussion/conclusion: This study is the first to provide a phenomenological and experiential understanding of PG. Our phenomenological description can be helpful in clinical settings such as bereavement services within palliative care teams.