Covid-19

The current coronavirus pandemic is resulting in widespread grief of various forms. Many are suffering bereavements, or anticipating future bereavements. Grief is likely to be exacerbated by isolation due to social distancing measures, and customary mourning practices and rituals may be impeded. People may also be grieving the loss of opportunities, security and social connections, and are facing a great deal of uncertainty about the future.

Grief and the Pandemic: Watch our film collaboration with Calling the Shots productions for the Arts and Humanities Research Council supported by BBC Arts Culture in Quarantine. The film is part of the Animated Thinking series of films, based on the work of UK academics. Available on BBC iPlayer.

Click to read our short and accessible paper 'The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Bounds of Grief', which addresses the question of whether even those who have not suffered a bereavement may nonetheless have had interestingly grief-like experiences during the pandemic.

Also below is a short podcast exploring these issues by project co-investigator Louise Richardson.

Included below are links to relevant resources, research, and popular articles related to grief during the Covid-19 outbreak. This page will be updated as the situation develops.

Academic Articles

Bertuccio, R.F. and Runion, M.C. (2020), 'Considering Grief in Mental Health Outcomes of COVID-19', Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12, 87–89.

Borghi, L. and Menichetti, J. (2021), 'Strategies to Cope With the COVID-Related Deaths Among Family Members', Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 1–4.

Delor, J.P.M., Borghi, L., Cao di San Marco, E., Fossati, I. and Vegni, E. (2021), 'Phone follow up to families of COVID-19 patients who died at the hospital: families’ grief reactions and clinical psychologists’ roles', International Journal of Psychology, 56, 498–511.

Eisma, M. C., Boelen, P. A., & Lenferink, L. (2020). Prolonged grief disorder following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Psychiatry research, 288, 113031.

Feder, S., Smith, D., Griffin, H., Shreve, S.T., Kinder, D., Kutney-Lee, A. and Ersek, M. (2020), '“Why Couldn’t I Go in To See Him?” Bereaved Families’ Perceptions of End-of-Life Communication During COVID-19', The American Geriatrics Society, 69, 587–592.

Firouzkouhi, M., Alimohammadi, N., Abdollahimohammad, A., Bagheri, G. and Farzi, J. (2021), 'Bereaved Families Views on the Death of Loved Ones Due to COVID 19: An Integrative Review', Omega-Journal of Death and Dying, 1–16.

Gallagher, A. (2021), 'Reflections on a COVID death: Naming a family’s pain and reparation', Nursing Ethics, 28 587–589.

Goveas, J. S., & Shear, M. K. (2020). Grief and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Older Adults. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 28(10), 1119–1125.

Hernández-Fernández, C. and Meneses-Falcón, C. (2021), 'I can't believe they are dead. Death and mourning in the absence of goodbyes during the COVID-19 pandemic', Health and Social Care, 1–13.

lbuquerque S., Teixeira, A. M., & Rocha, J. C., (2021). COVID-19 and Disenfranchised Grief. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12(638874), 1-4.

Katz, N.T., McInerney, M., Ravindran, G. and Gold, M. (2021), 'Silent suffering of the dying and their families: impact of COVID-19', Internal Medicine Journal, 51, 433–435.

McDuffie, D.L., Kouchi, K., Dorman, H., Bownes, E., Condon, S.E. and Crowther, M.R. (2021), 'Grief, COVID-19, and the South: Considerations and Recommendations', Omega-Journal of Death and Dying, 1–14.

McLaughlin, D. (2021), 'Micro-Loss; Expanding Our Vocabulary to Describe Grief during the Time of Covid', Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 17, 124–126.

Pearce, C., Honey, J. R., Lovick, R., et al. (2021). ‘A silent epidemic of grief’: a survey of bereavement care provision in the UK and Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Open.

Rui M. Joaquima, Pintoa, A.L.C.B., Guatimosimd, R.F., de Paulaa, J.J., Souza Costaa, D., Paim Diaze, A., da Silvaf, A.n.G., Pinheiroj, M.I.C., Serpai, A.L.O., Mirandac, D.M. and Malloy-Diniza, L.F. (2021), 'Bereavement and psychological distress during COVID-19 pandemics: The impact of death experience on mental health', Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 2.

Schwartz, S. (2021), 'COVID-19, precarity and loneliness', Journal of Analytical Psychology, 66, 517–533.

Selman, L. (2021), 'Covid grief has cracked us open: how clinicians respond could reshape attitudes to bereavement', BMJ, 374, 1–4.

Seyede Salehe, M., Shahbazi, N., Taban, M., Alimohammadi, A. and Shati, M. (2021). Mourning During Corona: A Phenomenological Study of Grief Experience Among Close Relatives During COVID-19 Pandemics. Omega-Journal of Death and Dying. 1–22.

Sherman A. Lee & Robert A. Neimeyer (2020). Pandemic Grief Scale: A screening tool for dysfunctional grief due to a COVID-19 loss, Death Studies.

Statz, T., Kobayashi, L., & Finlay, J. (2022). ‘Losing the illusion of control and predictability of life’: Experiences of grief and loss among ageing US adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ageing and Society, 1–24.

Yardley, S., & Rolph, M. (2020). Death and dying during the pandemic. BMJ. 369 :m1472

Wallace, C. L.; Wladkowski, S. P.; Gibson, A. & White, P. (2020). Grief During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Palliative Care Providers. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

Walsh, F. (2020), 'Loss and Resilience in the Time of COVID-19: Meaning Making, Hope, and Transcendence', Family Process, 59, 898–911.

West, K., Rumble, H., Shaw, R., Cameron, A. and Roleston, C. (2021), 'Diarised Reflections on COVID-19 and Bereavement: Disruptions and Affordances', Illness, Crisis & Loss, 1–17.

Zhai, Y., & Du, X. (2020). Loss and grief amidst COVID-19: A path to adaptation and resilience. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 87, 80–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.04.053

Charities' Covid-19 Resources
Cruse Bereavement Care
The Good Grief Trust

Covid-19 and Grief