Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024;48(9):927-936.
doi: 10.1080/07481187.2023.2297055. Epub 2023 Dec 25.

Relatives' grief at three moments after death of a loved one during COVID-19 pandemic (the CO-LIVE study)

Corine A Nierop-van Baalen  1 , F Erica Witkamp  1   2 , Ida J Korfage  2 , H Roeline Pasman  3 , Yvonne N Becqué  1   2 , Masha S Zee  3 , Agnes van der Heide  2 , Bregje D Onwuteaka-Hilipsen  3 , Anne Goossensen  4
Affiliations

Relatives' grief at three moments after death of a loved one during COVID-19 pandemic (the CO-LIVE study)

Corine A Nierop-van Baalen et al. Death Stud. 2024.

Abstract

COVID-19 has complicated grieving experiences. Rich qualitative description of these experiences is lacking. We interviewed 10 bereaved relatives (mainly daughters) 2-3 times each: shortly after their relative died in the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, and after 12 and 18 months (29 interviews in total). Analyses took place according to inductive content analysis. Losses were threefold: the loss of the loved one; of the (desired) way to say farewell, and of social support. We identified five ways in which the three COVID-19 related loss experiences interacted: overshadowed grief, cumulative grief, triggered grief, derailed grief, and conciliatory grief. This study demonstrated that pre-COVID-19 diagnoses and understandings of grief are not sufficient to picture grief during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. These grief experiences are more complex and deserve further exploration.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

References

    1. Aguiar, A., Pinto, M., & Duarte, R. (2022). A qualitative study on the impact of death during COVID-19: Thoughts and feelings of Portuguese bereaved adults. PLoS One, 17(4), e0265284. 10.1371/journal.pone.0265284 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahaddour, C., Van den Branden, S., & Broeckaert, B. (2017). Purification of body and soul for the next journey. Practices surrounding death and dying among Muslim women. Omega, 76(2), 169–200. 10.1177/0030222817729617 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Becqué, Y. N., Witkamp, F. E., Goossensen, A., Korfage, I. J., van Lent, L. G. G., Pasman, H. R., Onwuteaka-Philipsen, B. D., Zee, M., & van der Heide, A. (2023). Grief after pandemic loss: Factors affecting grief experiences (the CO-LIVE study). Journal of Loss and Trauma, 29(1), 27–43. 10.1080/15325024.2023.2229137 - DOI
    1. Bergeron, D. M. (2023). Time heals all wounds? HRM and bereavement in the workplace. Human Resource Management Review, 33(2), 100931. 10.1016/j.hrmr.2022.100931 - DOI
    1. Boeije, H. (2009). Analysis in qualitative research. Sage publications.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources