Grief, Loss, and Bereavement for Healthcare Professionals
Course Author: Ken Doka, Ph.D.
Self-Guided
This course, Grief, Loss, and Bereavement for Healthcare Professionals, provides healthcare professionals from all disciplines with information on the process of grief, offers current theories that have relevance to assisting grieving individuals, and identifies sensitivities, skills, and tools to assist the learner in understanding particular factors in various types of loss. Also explored will be the concept of disenfranchised grief, which is a reminder that the experience of grief encompasses far more than the death of a family member or loved one.
Learning Objectives
- Define and differentiate the following concepts: grief, mourning, bereavement, anticipatory grief, complicated grief, disenfranchised grief.
- Summarize the ways that grieving is experienced and expressed at varied points within the life cycle.
- Describe the process of grief noting manifestations of grief, the typical courses or pathways of grief, and signs that grief may be more complicated.
- Discuss current theories of grief including Worden’s Task Model, The Dual Process Model, and Meaning Reconstruction.
- Describe approaches to grief support and counseling including support groups, rituals, bibliotherapy, and expressive approaches.
- Demonstrate sensitivities to the varied losses persons may experience such as the loss of a parent, spouse/partner, child, or sibling, as well as losses that may be disenfranchised by the larger community.
- Discuss current approaches to complicated grief, noting changes in the DSM-5 as well as sources of referral.
Course Outline
- Basic Definitions
- Developmental Perspectives
- The Process of Grief
- Current Perspectives of Grief
- Counseling the Bereaved Individual: Strategies and Tools
- Sensitivities in Counseling Particular Types of Losses
- Complications of Grief
- Summary
- References
Number of Continuing Education Hours for Spiritual Care for Nurses: 23.6
The Spiritual Care Association Nursing Division is accredited as a provider of nursing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
