Bereavement rituals during the Covid-19 pandemic: Implications for mental health support, funerary practices and public health messaging

Covid-19 大流行期间的丧葬仪式：对心理健康支持、丧葬习俗和公共卫生信息的影响

• 批准号: AH/V015273/1
• 负责人: Karen Windle
• 金额: $ 14.85万
• 依托单位: NatCen Social Research
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FV015273%2F1
• 关键词: Bereavement; rituals; during; Covid; 19

Rituals around death and dying allow 'healthy' expression of strong emotions, with funerals identified as a fulcrum in the grieving process. The Covid-19 pandemic has dislocated these significant rituals. Their absence is likely to disrupt 'normal' grief cycles, leading to a range of complex grief presentations.Evidence from prior infectious diseases (Ebola, SARs, MERs) highlighted that some individuals will subvert public health messages to deliver rituals perceived essential to their relative's care and burial. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these behaviours are being mirrored in the Covid-19 pandemic.We will carry out a qualitative research programme to: identify the nature and extent of mental health support necessary following Covid-19, understand the experience of subverting or adhering to public health messages, and assess how public health messages could be developed to support the bereaved in managing the funeral process (e.g. development of replacement rituals) when social distancing is essential.We will carry out qualitative interviews at two time points (six months apart) with 30 bereaved families to explore the short and longer-term impacts of bereavement during the pandemic on mental health and wellbeing. In addition, we will conduct 30 interviews with funeral directors to understand their experiences of the funeral planning process during the pandemic, change in services and their interactions with bereaved people.Along with interim, final reports and peer reviewed open access papers, we will carry out a 'lessons learnt workshop'. This will develop recommendations about funerary arrangements, bereavement support provision and public health messaging, developing and agreeing industry-specific requirements.

围绕死亡和临终的仪式可以“健康”地表达强烈的情感，葬礼被认为是悲伤过程中的一个支点。 Covid-19 大流行扰乱了这些重要的仪式。他们的缺席可能会扰乱“正常”的悲伤周期，导致一系列复杂的悲伤表现。之前的传染病（埃博拉、SARS、MER）的证据强调，一些人会颠覆公共卫生信息，以提供被认为对其亲属的护理和埋葬至关重要的仪式。轶事证据表明，这些行为在 Covid-19 大流行中得到了反映。我们将开展一项定性研究计划，以：确定 Covid-19 之后所需的心理健康支持的性质和程度，了解颠覆或遵守公共卫生信息的经历，并评估在必须保持社交距离时，如何制定公共卫生信息来支持死者家属管理葬礼过程（例如制定替代仪式）。 在两个时间点（相隔六个月）对 30 个失去亲人的家庭进行定性访谈，探讨大流行期间丧亲之痛对心理健康和福祉的短期和长期影响。此外，我们还将对殡葬承办人进行 30 次采访，以了解他们在疫情期间葬礼策划流程的经验、服务的变化以及他们与失去亲人的人的互动。除了中期报告、最终报告和同行评审的开放获取文件外，我们还将举办“经验教训研讨会”。这将制定有关丧葬安排、丧亲支持提供和公共卫生信息的建议，制定并商定行业特定要求。