Advanced practice nurses often encounter grieving families in their work. Little is known of the effecive interventions they use to help the bereaved. The purpose of this study was to explore the interventions utilized by six parish nurses with grieving families. The theoretical framework guiding this study was John Bowlby's Attachment Theory. Bowlby's theory of attachment demonstrated that the grief process is a fluid one,and the time spent in various stages of grieving differs from person to person. The participants in this study were six parish nurses who had worked with grieving families in various settings. The research design was descriptive from a qualitative approach. Participants were interviewed about interventions used with grieving families and responses were analyzed to extract common themes based on the most helpful interventions. Four themes emerged regarding interventions most helpful to grieving families: (a) presence, which refers to the physical availability of the parish nurses; (b) preservation of the bond, which involved parish nurses helping family members to adjust to experiencing the relationship in a new way; (c) individualization, which involves assessing the family to determine which interventions are most appropriate; (d) follow up, which refers to maintaining contact with the bereaved. Findings reveaaled that parish nurses were successful in meeting the needs of grieving families in these four ways. These results suggest that advanced practice nurses should incorporate these types of interventions when working with grieving families.
Session #1201 - End of Life
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)