Bereavement Management - Description, Assessment and Care

Bereavement Clinical Trial

Official title:

Bereavement Management. Description, Assessment and Care. A Randomized Controlled Study.

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01292512
• Other study ID #: Bereavement Management.
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 2009
• Est. completion date: January 2012

Study information

• Verified date: March 2012
• Source: University of Aarhus
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study aims to develop a risk assessment tool to identify bereaved in risk of complicated grief reactions and to implement a bereavement management programme in primary health care based on the Dual Process Model of coping with bereavement. Furthermore to enhance bereavement care in general practice and to enhance patients' self-management in bereavement care.

Description:

In Denmark alone there are approximately 55.000 deaths annually which leave approximately 200.000 bereaved close relatives. International studies show that 10-15% of bereaved persons develop complications following the death of a close relative. If those studies hold true, approximately 20 - 30.000 individuals annually will develop complications as a result of suffering a loss, and there is hardly any knowledge of how bereavement is treated or even legitimized in primary care and referred on to specialized (psychological or psychiatric) care. The field of bereavement is in need of studies that validate the theoretical underpinnings of the research area, enhanced assessment of predictive risk factors and updated intervention methods: in short a scientifically valid management programme.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 402
• Est. completion date: January 2012
• Est. primary completion date: January 2012
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Newly bereaved from one of the inclusion facilities.

• 18 years or older.

• Danish citizen.

• Able to understand and speak Danish.

• Informed consent.

• Mentally able to cooperate

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with known substance abuse.

• Patients with recently (within 5 years) diagnosed psychopathological disorders that trigger psychotic episodes.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Bereavement
• Grief

Intervention

Other:
• Prognostic screening for complicated grief
Patients in the intervention group are prognostically screened for development of complicated grief to identify those in need of help.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Denmark	Research Unit for General Practice	Aarhus

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Aarhus	Dæhnfeldt Foundation, Danish Cancer Society, TrygFonden, Denmark

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Denmark, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Effect of the intervention measured by an increase in the diagnosis of complicated grief.	GPs receive updated information on bereavement related symptoms, how to identify complicated grief, and the Dual Process Model of coping.	20 months
Secondary	Effect of the intervention measured by register-based data.	Effect of the intervention measured by register-based data on frequency in contact with GP, referrals to psychological/psychiatric counselling, medicine consumption and use of emergency services.	20 months