Proceso de duelo en familiares y cuidadores

Abstract

This article provides a definition and description of grief, its characteristics, and the current explanatory models of this phenomenon (the stage model, task model, constructivist model and dual process model). The authors argue that a state of mourning in advance is produced in the process of dementia as a result of significant relational loss before death and describe the risk factors for complicated grief in caregivers: overload, lack of personal and material resources, delegation of care, and complex feelings such as guilt. The need for healthcare organizations to provide professional caregivers with the appropriate means to help with grief and to develop their own measures to prevent burnout is stressed. These measures could include protocols that provide bereavement intervention with the family, the primary caregiver, other patients and/or residents and the professional caregiving team. Finally, losses in persons with dementia must be taken into consideration, avoiding phenomena such as silencing and overprotection and encouraging acceptance and emotional support of their pain so that organic and emotional complications do not occur.