Literature Review

Love, loss and last wishes fulfilled at Duke HomeCare & Hospice: Staff members regularly make miracles happen Duke Today, Durham, NC; by Working@Duke; 10/29/25 The bell chimed three times at Hock Family Pavilion, and everyone knew what it meant. Duke HomeCare & Hospice nurses and workers stepped into the hallway of Duke’s 12-person inpatient hospice facility, solemnly waiting in silence. Anthony Wilkie, a Duke Clinical Nurse, had been bracing himself for the moment with a mixture of sorrow and humility. When a bell rings three times at Hock Family Pavilion, a patient has just died and a ritual is about to begin. ...

Post-biographical dignity in the age of artificial intelligence: Narrative, ePROMs and ethical challenges in end-of-life care Palliative & Supportive Care; by Abel García Abejas, David Geraldes Santos, Helder Mota-Filipe, Àngels Salvador Vergés; 10/27/25 Significance of results: End-of-life care in the age of AI must move beyond autonomy-focused ethics to encompass the narrative, relational, and posthumous dimensions of dignity. A critical, philosophically informed ethics is essential to prevent depersonalisation in digitally mediated care.

Stitched with love: Allied’s memory bears offer comfort to grieving families in Northeast Pennsylvania WVIA News - PBS/NPR, Scranton, PA; by Lydia McFarlane; 10/27/25 Barbara Rushinski received a bear made of her partner’s pajamas after he passed in hospice care at Allied Services. She was so moved, she put her sewing skills to good use and joined the team of volunteers making the bears for grieving families in Northeast Pennsylvania. ... Allied offers its memory bears to grieving families whose loved ones died in hospice. ... Joyce Wizda started the program at Allied more than six years ago when she joined the healthcare system as a social worker. ... She estimates the volunteers make about 150 bears a year. ... Wizda encourages families to send in clothing items from their loved one’s closet to ease their grieving journey.

Religious traditions and grief in the USA: When it's less about G-d and more about the peopleJournal of Religion & Health; by Emily Scheinfeld, Cassidy Taladay-Carter, Kelly Tenzek; 9/25Many turn to religion or spirituality for personal meaning, purpose, and guidance throughout our lifetime, including in the context of death and dying. Through the qualitative analysis of 159 open-ended survey responses from adults in the USA who had experienced the death of a parent, we examined the types of religious traditions, practices, and/or rituals that participants engaged in during their bereavement. We then explored how those practices were helpful, harmful to, or revealing of emergent interfaith family dynamics throughout their grief journeys. By better articulating the communicative role of religion in death and dying, we broaden the understanding of religion and grief in these important sociocultural contexts. We discuss implications for families and religious communities alike.

Pastime activities, social connectedness, and grief resolution: A brief report highlighting the salience of socializing for grief resolution among bereaved older adultsThe Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease; by Xin Yao Lin, Holly G Prigerson, Yifan Chou, Paul K Maciejewski; 10/25We sought to examine the relationship between pastime activities (i.e., activity engagement), social connectedness with family and friends, and severity of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) symptoms across younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Cross-sectional findings showed that engagement in pastime activities (e.g., travel, sports) was associated with greater social connectedness for older adults, and social connectedness was associated with lower PGD symptom severity. Engagement in pastime activities was associated with lower PGD symptom severity for middle-aged adults. Results are consistent with the socioemotional selectivity theory and the microsociological theory of adjustment to loss and suggest that grief interventions should have age-specific strategies, encourage specific pastime activities, and promote feelings of social connectedness.

Perinatal bereavement rooms: A narrative review of physical space in perinatal griefArchives of Gynecology and Obstetrics; by Ruby Castilla-Puentes, Azul F. Isidoro, Alfonsina Orosito, Samantha Eaton, Manuela Goyeneche, Liliana González Cabrales, Gabriela Santaella; 9/25 Perinatal loss is a profoundly complex form of grief, often linked to heightened risk of prolonged bereavement and adverse mental health outcomes. Perinatal grief rooms—private, supportive spaces within healthcare settings—aim to help families process their loss, spend time with their baby, and create meaningful memories in a respectful environment. Despite increasing recognition of the importance of bereavement care, dedicated grief rooms remain under-researched and inconsistently implemented. Advancing this field will require rigorously designed studies, development of design standards, and collaborative partnerships among healthcare providers, researchers, policymakers, and design experts to ensure equitable access to therapeutic spaces for grieving families.Assistant Editor's note: It strikes me that those experiencing grief of any kind, not just perinatal grief, could benefit from a grief room--a private, comfortable, inviting space--where loved ones can be together and grieve. Many hospice in-patient facilities have such a room. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility, etc., had a grief room?! Perhaps hospice organizations could explore a multi-facility collaboration to make that happen. 

The unacknowledged grief oncologists face and the need for closure Medscape; by Mark A. Lewis, MD; 10/8/25 Hello, Medscape. It's Mark, and I just got back from a patient's funeral. I know — even for an oncologist, that sounds grim, but I have my reasons and I'd like to explain them to you. ... One of them is deeply personal. When my father died, his oncologist came to his memorial service, and that made a huge impression on me. I was 14 years old at the time. ... Now, there's a whole other video to be recorded, if not a whole book to be written, about how a patient dying shouldn't necessarily be viewed as a failure. Immortality, after all, is never the goal. ... I've been absolutely astonished by what I've learned about my patients posthumously. ... Most meaningfully, you get to witness the ripple effect of the patients on their families who love them and who will carry on their traditions and even some of their character traits. 

Children’s experiences of parental deaths due to suicide, homicide, overdose, alcohol, or drug useJAMA Network Open; by Sean Esteban McCabe, Eric Hulsey, Luisa Kcomt, Rebecca J. Evans-Polce, Glenn Radford, Samuel D. Tennant, Vita V. McCabe; 9/25Childhood bereavement resulting from parental mortality in the US has increased substantially over the past decade, including a surge in parental deaths from stigmatized causes, which are defined as drug overdose, homicide, suicide, and alcohol-induced or other drug-induced deaths. This cohort study found that the number of children bereaved from stigmatized parental deaths has increased and now account for 2 in every 5 parental deaths in Michigan. The increase in children who experienced stigmatized parental deaths is concerning given the increased risks of mental health disorders, child welfare involvement, and criminal justice involvement for children immediately following a parental death. Children and families who are bereaved from a stigmatized death may experience a more complex bereavement process and require a higher level of care.

Life lessons from a palliative care psychologist - and how to support a dying loved one HELLO! onMSN; by Pilar Hernán; 10/5/25 ... Psychological support becomes a fundamental pillar for providing comprehensive and humane care, from managing emotional pain to adapting to the new reality. MD Anderson Cancer Centre psycho-oncologist Fátima Castaño helps us understand the process, explaining how we can support a loved one in palliative or end of life care, and shares the powerful life lessons she has learned through her work.

Grieving someone who’s still here Psychology Today; by Bob Uslander, MD; 10/2/25 Grief does not always begin after death. For many families facing dementia, terminal illness, or a slow decline, it arrives before the final goodbye—quietly, persistently, and often without recognition. This is known as anticipatory grief: the emotional process of mourning a loved one who is still alive. As a palliative care physician, I see this every day. Spouses tell me they feel like they have already lost their partner. Adult children struggle with the reversal of roles, becoming the caregiver to the parent who once cared for them. Caregivers often oscillate between love, exhaustion, guilt, and detachment. None of this means they are doing it wrong. It means they are grieving.

6 Coloradans took to the Colorado River to grieve. What they found was a way to feel less alone. The Colorado Sun, Loma, CO; by Shannon Mullane; 9/28/25 Losing a loved one leaves people reeling. It forces the body to reconfigure deep bonds and impacts health. One Colorado River retreat aims to help people navigate. ... One by one, the members — all Colorado residents who ranged in age from their 40s to their 70s — shared their stories of death and grief. It was the start of a grief therapy retreat on the Colorado River, and the clients and crew members on the trip had lost parents, children and life partners. This moment was what they came for: a chance to open up space in their day-to-day lives to grieve. With other people who know what it’s like. Without having to act like they were holding it together. ... In their seven years of operation, Podmore and Pathfinders have offered about 20 grief retreats on the Colorado River for over 160 clients of all ages — including everyone from children to seniors — mostly from the Roaring Fork Valley in western Colorado. 

Differences in after-death communications: A comparative analysis of unexpected vs. expected deaths and their impact on survivors' grief and perception of deathOmega; by Tess H McCormick, Gwen Grams, Fatma A Wise, Madeline Burns, Ashna Charania, Noelle St Germain-Sehr, Chris Roe, Callum E Cooper, David Lorimer, Evelyn Elsaesser, Jennifer Kim Penberthy; 9/25This study explores changes in grief and fear of death in individuals who reported after death communications (ADC) from people who died unexpectedly or whose death was expected. We found that those bereaved by unexpected loss reported significantly higher levels of uncertainty regarding changes in their fear of death compared to those bereaved by an expected loss. However, no significant differences were found in grief between the two groups. Most participants reported a positive impact of ADC on their bereavement, regardless of the type of loss they experienced.

Suicide bereavement among Black-Americans: Evidence from the General Social SurveyOmega-Journal of Death and Dying; by William Feigelman, Julie Cerel, John McIntosh, Nina Gutin, Alice C. Edwards; 8/25Limited research attention has focused on examining the diverging adaptations of American Blacks and Whites to suicide losses. We utilized the 2016 General Social Survey, which included questions related to experiencing suicide bereavement, investigating hypotheses past studies suggested predicting Blacks face more grieving difficulties than their White counterparts. This data did not confirm any evidence of heightened grief or mental health problems among the Black respondents. Owing to the limited number of measurements of mental health assessments more research will be needed to confirm these findings.