Death, Grief, and the Home Health Worker: A Systems Approach

Abstract

As the burden of long-term care shifts from nursing homes to home-based care, home health workers are increasingly likely to serve an older clientele susceptible to chronic disease and death. A significant occupational stressor in such cases is a lack of knowledge about what constitutes professionally appropriate interaction with dying patients and their families. Utilizing social systems theory and findings from the sociology of death and dying, this article provides information helpful to workers dealing with such cases. There is discussion of the stages of grief for the dying patient and for survivors, the difference between normal and abnormal grief, how to lessen the symptoms of grief, the art of condolence, and the special topic of children and grief. The article concludes with six recommended strategies for workers to cope with the problems of death, dying, and grief within the real-life social system in which they work and live.