Literature Review

When grief involves trauma − a social worker explains how to support survivors of the recent floods and other devastating losses The Conversation; podcast by Gemma Ware with Dr. Liza Lane; 7/17/25 The July 4, 2025, floods in Kerr County, Texas, swept away children and entire families, leaving horror in their wake. Days later, flash floods struck Ruidoso, New Mexico, killing three people, including two young children. ... When death is sudden, violent, or when a body is never recovered, grief gets tangled up with trauma. In these situations, people don’t only grieve the death. They struggle with the terror of how it happened, the unanswered questions and the shock etched into their bodies. I’m a social work professor, grief researcher and the founder of The Young Widowhood Project, a research initiative aimed at expanding scholarship and public understanding of premature spousal loss. Both my personal loss and professional work have shown me how trauma changes the grieving process and what kind of support actually helps. To understand how trauma can complicate grief, it’s important to first understand how people typically respond to loss.

'A long, beautiful time together': Photo exhibit 'Til Death Do Us Part'KUT 90.5, Austin, TX; by Michael Lee; 7/21/25“Well, we have to go back five years to the beginning of the pandemic,” says photographer Becky Wilkes, recalling how she came to create the exhibit Til Death Do Us Part. ... Wilkes and her siblings found themselves making frequent trips to Waco to care for their almost-90-year-old parents, and then the looming threat of a global pandemic made an already-difficult situation worse. ... She’d already started snapping some cell phone photos to share with her siblings, but seeing her parents together again, with what seemed like a renewed sense of love and togetherness, Wilkes decided to capture more and better photos. “And then I did have a conversation with them very quickly and I requested permission to photograph them,” she says. The resulting photography exhibit, Til Death Do Us Part, chronicles that last year of her parents’ lives.  ... The story ultimately ends in their death and our understanding of their death. But the story is really about their living. And, that's really… that's really beautiful.” Editor's Note: Click here for Becky Wilkes' website page with her descriptions and photos. 

Rochester hospice provider pulls out of Owatonna project, sunsets community grief services PostBulletin,com, Rochester, NY; by Dené K. Dryden; 7/17/25 Citing multiple challenges, Rochester's Seasons Hospice will no longer be expanding into Owatonna and will pare back its community services through the Center for Grief Education and Support. In a Friday, July 18, press release to the Post Bulletin, Dawn Beck, president of the nonprofit hospice provider's board of directors, said "we have had to make the extremely difficult decision to restructure our grief services and to cease efforts to reopen the Homestead Hospice House in Owatonna." The Homestead Hospice House, previously operated by Allina Health, has been closed since summer 2023, the Owatonna Peoples Press reported. Since last year, Seasons Hospice had been fundraising to reopen the facility, but Beck said this week that staffing challenges, financial difficulties, issues with licensing and certification, for-profit competition and uncertainty around federal changes contributed to Seasons Hospice withdrawing from the project. ... In Rochester, starting Aug. 1, the Center for Grief Education and Support will no longer provide services to the community at large ...

Exploring a collective grief experience in the U.S.: Qualitative findings from older parents whose only child has diedOmega; Yongqiang Zheng, Leslie G Wuest, Jeongah Kim, Rebecca A Rodriguez; 6/25Despite its profound physical and mental health impacts, research on the loss of an only child in later life among older U.S. adults remains scarce. This phenomenological qualitative study explores the lived experiences and meanings older bereaved parents attribute to their loss. Inductive thematic analysis revealed 6 themes: the enduring intensity of grief, significant secondary losses, feelings of isolation and alienation, the role of social support in coping, and spirituality and religion's influence on their journey. By amplifying these parents' voices, the study lays a foundation for understanding their unique grief and underscores the gaps in U.S. policy and mental health services. These findings deepen insight into an understudied population, highlighting the need for enhanced resources for older bereaved parents.

Hill Country vigil draws hundreds after deadly Texas floods MYSA, San Antonio, TX; by Nicholas Hernandez; 7/11/25 ... On Thursday, July 10, hundreds gathered downtown for a Candlelight Vigil of Hope to honor those affected [by the "catastophic flood"] and shine a light on the importance of grief and mental health support in the wake of disaster. Organized by River City Advocacy in partnership with Hope Hospice and other local nonprofits, the event brought together counselors, community leaders and families. Handheld candles were distributed at the plaza, where people stood shoulder-to-shoulder in silence, prayer and remembrance.Editor's Note: Thank you Hope Hospice for your leadership in providing this meaningful way to gather and grieve. Calling all hospice leaders to simply "check in" on employees who have family and friends in affected areas when such crises occur. Other recent examples include Hurricanes Helene & Milton, the Los Angeles wildfires, Kentucky floods, and these Texas / New Mexico floods. Your kind words can make a lasting difference.

A physician’s reflection on love, loss, and finding meaning in grief [podcast] The Podcast by KevinMD; KevinMD's podcast with hospitalist Jasminka Vukanovic-Crily; 7/1/25 Hospitalist Jasminka Vukanovic-Criley discusses her article, “When grief hits all at once: a morning of heartbreak and love.” Jasminka shares a deeply personal account of a Saturday morning where unexpected news of the passing of two friends, Natasa’s mother Mirjana and her friend Thomas, both from cancer, suddenly immersed her in profound grief. She reflects on the fragility of life and the ripple effect of these losses, which led to a cascade of memories: ... 

Grief literacy’s growing impact on hospice bereavement care models Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 6/27/25 Evolving trends related to grief literacy have trickled into the innovative bereavement approaches that hospice providers employ amid rising demand for family support. Hospices have fine-tuned how they measure quality and shape services within their bereavement programs as more is learned about the diverse ways people both understand and experience grief. Even the term “grief literacy” has been gaining ground in recent years, according to Sarah Saltee, executive director of Colorado-based 3Hopeful Hearts (3HH). The term generally refers to the ability to understand and recognize that grief experiences span beyond a person’s death and can apply to any significant loss of health, relationships, goals, self-identity or safety, Saltee stated.

Strategies to prepare hospice providers to interact with adolescents with a parent in hospicePalliative & Supportive Care; William Grayson, Denice Kopchak Sheehan, Pamela S Stephenson, Kristen DeBois, Caitlin Sheehan; 5/25The sample included 18 young adults (18-28 years old) whose parents died in hospice or palliative care while they were adolescents (12-18 years old). Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams. The participants described a variety of skills that are important for hospice providers to know. They provided specific suggestions for hospice providers who seek to help adolescents navigate this critical time when their parents are dying or have recently died. These results can also be used to inform the development of interventions that assist hospice providers with strategies tailored to an adolescent's specific needs.

'Just support her': Brittany Maynard's husband says medical aid in dying helped him grieve USA Today; by Madeline Mitchell; 6/15/25 Some patients find comfort in medical aid in dying, which allows individuals with six months or less to live the option to obtain a medicine that can help them die peacefully at a time of their choosing. It's not considered euthanasia – which is when someone administers a lethal drug – because the patient takes the medicine themselves. Medical aid in dying is legal in 11 states and in Washington, DC. “A lot of patients really express this desire to shield family members from the agony of watching them die, and potentially having them witness a really traumatic or a really burdensome death," said Anita Hannig, an anthropologist and author of the book "The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America." Some caregivers say medical aid in dying helped in their grieving process, too. One thing (Compassion & Choices’ Jessica) Empeño, (Americans United for Life’s Catie) Kelley and Hannig agree on: When a patient asks to die, it's crucial to ask questions about their pain levels, comfort and mental health. Not every patient can or wants to move to one of the 12 jurisdictions that allow medical aid in dying. Moving can be expensive, and some patients don't have the physical ability or time to move. The best thing caregivers can do, Empeño said, is to advocate for their loved one and plan for their death. Ask questions about what the patient wants when they are dying, like if they want visitors in those final moments and who should make final decisions if the patient can't themselves. Guest Editor’s Note, Mark Cohen: Medical Aid in Dying is not going away. This article makes the point that the things that hospices do best—empathetic listening, asking thoughtful questions to guide patients in their healthcare decision-making—can benefit patients and families on both sides of this policy question. For a related article, see this column by Dan Diaz supporting removal of the sunset provision in California’s End of Life Options Act: “Husband of Brittany Maynard: Let’s make medical aid in dying permanent”; Sacramento Bee, 6/3/2025.

Providing support to children during the loss of an important adult in the ICUIntensive Care Medicine; Ruth Kleinpell, Bénédicte Gaillard-Le Roux, Jozef Kesecioglu; 5/25Research on bereavement care in the ICU has demonstrated associated benefits, including facilitating emotional adjustments, meaning-making, and resilience. As Rowland and colleagues highlight, helping children process information effectively without feeling overwhelmed is important, as they need supportive adults to provide honest, developmentally appropriate explanations. The strategies highlighted in their narrative review can help ICU clinicians to tailor bereavement care for children to support them through the loss of an important adult in the ICU.

Families, volunteers share stories of finding peace through hospice: Hospice "allowed her to just be a daughter to her father as he was dying" Salina Post; by Cristina Janney, Hays Post; 6/29/24; posted in our newsletter 7/2/24This is a two-part series on hospice care in northwest Kansas. Dalene Juenemann and her father, Dean, had to make the difficult decision to enter hospice care after he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. “He was just such a social guy and someone was in a couple times a week,” she said. “They were checking in on him and it was that security blanket he had.” ... He didn’t want to go through aggressive chemo and he didn’t qualify for a bladder removal because of his age. “He chose quality of life,” she said. "It was that final decision that we are done with everyone wanting a piece of me. I'm just going to enjoy life," she said. Dalene's father, Dean Shearer, was a patient of NWKareS, Hospice of Northwest Kansas, which serves 16 counties from Interstate 70 to the Nebraska border and Trego County to the Colorado border. ... She said the extra care hospice offered allowed her to just be a daughter to her father as he was dying. [Click on the title's link to continue reading stories from families and volunteers at NWKAreS.]

Bo-Hawg & Evermore, a love story & a fish fry: A deep-fried meaning found in grief Evermore Newsletter - "Community, Family, Grief"; 6/9/25 Grease popping, no breeze, standing in direct sunlight, lifting coolers with 50 pounds of grouper, hands coated in cornmeal and batter, and a heat index of 107. Ah, those were the days. That’s what it was like cooking seafood with my pops. My man LOVED this. A big reason is because he did this with his dad growing up. Later in life they began volunteering their services (and fish) as a way to help raise money for youth sports in our hometown. They would fry grouper, boil peanuts, boil shrimp — you name it, they did it. So, it was only natural that my siblings and I grew up sharing this tradition with him.  ... [Click on the title to continue reading this inspiring father-son story about both volunteering and coping with grief.]

2,200 Walk to Remember those who have passed away Cleveland Jewish News; by Kirsten Beard; 6/9/25 About 2,200 people attended the 14th annual Walk to Remember with the Hospice of the Western Reserve on June 8 at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. This event offered a meaningful way to celebrate life, to honor the memory of loved ones and support care that brings comfort and dignity for those facing serious illness. “The Hospice Walk to Remember is both our most important fundraiser of the year, but it’s also a really important time for families to come together and remember their loved ones that aren’t with us anymore, ...” Bill Finn, president and CEO of Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland, told the Cleveland Jewish News. Gary Isakov, board member of Hospice Western Reserve, told the CJN while this is a fundraising event, it’s more about “bringing people together.”