Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

SAGE Publications, OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 2023

DOI: 10.1177/00302228231217334

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

“I Have Accepted My Father’s Death; I was not Sad but Relieved.” Adaptive Grief Responses for Bereaved Dementia Family Caregivers: A Scoping Review

Journal article published in 2023 by Mary Gemma O’Donnell ORCID, Zachary G. Baker ORCID
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

This scoping review explores findings from the psychological and medical literature on the adaptive grieving experiences of bereaved dementia family caregivers and integrates what healthcare professionals can do to support bereaved dementia family caregivers transition into a post-death role. Bereaved dementia family caregivers are particularly susceptible to prolonged grief disorder post-death due to the protracted caregiving demands and progressive course of the illness. The mention of caregiver grief while the person with dementia is living is quite common in the literature; however, limited research focuses on the bereaved dementia family caregiver and the methods they use to grieve adaptively. Three overarching adaptive grieving themes emerged from the review: 1) social health, 2) emotional and spiritual fitness, and 3) reclaiming activities. Given the growing prevalence of bereaved family dementia caregivers, understanding how they might most adaptively grieve and experience the greatest possible well-being should be a top focus for research.