Bereavement Management - Description, Assessment and Care

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

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01292512

Enrollment

402

Registered

2011-02-09

Start date

2009-06-30

Completion date

2012-01-31

Last updated

2020-03-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Bereavement, Grief

Keywords

Bereavement management, Complicated grief

Brief 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.

Detailed 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.

Interventions

OTHERPrognostic screening for complicated grief

Patients in the intervention group are prognostically screened for development of complicated grief to identify those in need of help.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

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.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Effect of the intervention measured by an increase in the diagnosis of complicated grief.	20 months	GPs receive updated information on bereavement related symptoms, how to identify complicated grief, and the Dual Process Model of coping.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Effect of the intervention measured by register-based data.	20 months	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.

Countries

Denmark

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026