3.13.2 Importance of Community Support
During the pandemic, social distancing and reduced social contact made it difficult for people to offer support to bereaved individuals. Subsequently, the way in which support was exchanged differed immensely to pre-pandemic times and participants emphasised the value of extending traditional support to grieving individuals: “I think the restrictions make it difficult for someone living after a bereavement – the same support networks can’t be there in person. I think that makes the aftermath more difficult – having people around for a while afterwards can help processing, and even help with practical things afterwards – people could do with support then too as the emotions are likely to arise fresh again e.g., dealing with business issues, wills etc.”
e pandemic reinforced the importance of community support and participants reported how they came to realise the significance of this:
“ e need to be able to share a death with your community was something I took for granted. Having sadly been at a number of close relatives’ funerals, I see that the funerals with restricted numbers do not permit a family to hear lovely stories about the deceased or feel the support of the community.”
3.14 Likelihood of Prolonged Grief Disorder as Measured by the Brief Grief Questionnaire
3.14.1 Prolonged Grief Disorder and the Brief Grief Questionnaire
Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) is defined by profound and debilitating feelings of loss. e condition has also been referred to as complicated, traumatic, chronic, or pathological grief. While grief is a natural and normal response to painful or traumatic losses, PGD makes it challenging for a person to accept the reality of a loss and begin to move forward. PGD can include intense feelings of grief that are long-lasting and can interfere with everyday life. e Brief Grief Questionnaire (BGQ) is a short screening tool that is used to screen bereaved survey participants for PGD. Scores between 0 and 4 indicate no PGD. Scores above 8 have been validated as signifying the existence of prolonged or complicated grief and scores between 5 - 7 identify people who, while ‘sub-threshold’ for the disorder, still require support and monitoring. A sub-threshold of PGD indicates that this cohort meet some but not all of the PGD criteria and suggests a higher risk of developing complicated grief without skilled therapeutic intervention. A US screening validation study in primary care settings used a BGQ score of 5 and above to identify those in need of therapeutic support (Patel et al, 2019).
2. Szuhany, KL., Malgaroli, M., Miron, CD., Simon, NM. (2021). Prolonged Grief Disorder: Course, Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment. Focus (Am Psychiatry Publ). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20200052
3. Patel, SR., Cole, A., Little, V., Skritskaya, NA., Lever, E., Dixon, LB., Shear, K., (2019). Acceptability, feasibility and outcome of a screening programme for complicated grief in integrated primary and behavioural health care clinics, Family Practice, Volume 36, Issue 2, Pages 125–131, https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmy050
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