Bereavement Services Provided under the Hospice Model of Care

Abstract

This chapter examines the provision of bereavement services through American hospice programs with a focus on the types of services that are commonly offered to both hospice families and those in the community who have suffered a death-related loss. There is continuing debate in the hospice and palliative care field on the wisdom of pathologizing grief by including it as a disorder. In general hospice bereavement follow-up, clinical staff assigned to the case visits the family to say goodbye and to attend funeral or visitation. Historically bereavement services in the United States developed quite differently from those in the United Kingdom. The services typically provided by a hospice bereavement program may include the following: individual grief counseling, various types of bereavement support groups, educational interventions, social support programs, specialized programs for bereaved children, expressive therapies, grief camps and family bereavement programs.