Distance and grief: Optimising wellbeing for transnational migrants in Tasmania

Abstract

End-of-life care, bereavement and grief involve significant challenges and impact our wellbeing in varied ways. For transnational migrants, geographical distance to a dying loved one, relatives, friends and meaningful locations can further complicate care, bereavement and grief. Our research aims to improve understandings of the role distance plays for transnational migrant wellbeing at these times. Using an instrumental, interpretative case study design we explored the experiences of five people with migration backgrounds with end-of-life care, bereavement and grief in Tasmania, Australia. Additional data sources included policies for end-of-life and bereavement care in Tasmania. In our study, participants tended to seek – and create – places and spaces of informal, rather than formal, support, both in their receiving society and country of origin. Online spaces played a key role: keeping people in touch with family members overseas, providing a means to care from a distance and ways to participate in grief rituals – albeit with mixed success. A lack of places to perform death and grief rituals, and inability to be physically present at a loved one's death (for some, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions) posed significant challenges to participants’ wellbeing and impacted coping. We argue that if societies better understand the significances of places, spaces and distance during times of end-of-life, bereavement and grief, we can adjust policy and practice accordingly to collectively optimise wellbeing for transnational migrants.