Grief is more than tears

Abstract

Much has been written in the professional and popular literature about grief. The multiplicity of sources for information about the phenomenon often leads to confusion regarding terminology and process. In addition, assessment and intervention methods show the phenomenon as unidimensional despite evidence to the contrary. Because nursing routinely deals with grief, it is important that a framework be developed to help understand the process and guide appropriate interventions. The Neuman systems model is particularly well suited as a framework because concepts found in the model are similar to descriptions of the concept of grief. An analysis of the grief concept using the Neuman model is presented, with perinatal grief presented as an example.