Carceral settings prevent individuals from engaging in supportive grief processing and contribute to compounded and disenfranchised grief. This is particularly relevant for individuals sentenced to life or long prison sentences during childhood. Relying on qualitative interviews, this study explored death-related loss and grief experiences, before, during, and after incarceration, within a sample of 46 individuals resentenced and released from prison following a long sentence in their youth. Study findings emphasized the lack of grief spaces in carceral settings, often prompting deferred grief. Grief deferred until post-release addressed death losses that began accumulating prior to incarceration and were further compounded by losses that occurred during incarceration. Grief processing was further obstructed during incarceration through delayed death notifications, barriers to death rituals, and dehumanizing expectations for funeral attendance in shackles and/or a jumpsuit. Findings highlight the need for humane policies establishing carceral grief spaces and support for incarcerated grievers.
Hospice bereavement programs in the United States lack standardized guidelines, resulting in service disparities and underutilization. While many hospice bereavement programs focus on pathologizing grief, humanistic approaches remain underexplored. The purpose of this study was to assess the current structure and challenges of hospice bereavement programs and to gather coordinators' recommendations to inform the development of a foundational minimum standards for supporting healthy grieving. This quantitative study gathered data through online surveys from bereavement coordinators in California. By aligning these findings with standards from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization standards, the Humanistically Universalizing Grief (HUG) model was developed, which provides core principles and advisory guidelines for hospice bereavement care. The HUG model offers a structured yet adaptable framework to improve program consistency, accessibility, and equity, ensuring bereavement care is comprehensive, sustainable, and responsive to the diverse needs of grieving individuals.
This study investigated the psychological processes linking death distress to flourishing within the context of an ongoing earthquake threat. Guided by Terror Management Theory and the Meaning-Making Model, a moderated serial mediation model (PROCESS Model 92) was tested in which death distress predicted flourishing through future anxiety and post-traumatic growth (PTG), with trauma-related meaning-making (TRMM) moderating the pathway future anxiety to PTG. Data were collected from 494 adults residing in a seismically active region. Results showed that death distress directly and negatively predicted flourishing. Future anxiety and PTG functioned as significant mediators, forming a serial indirect pathway. TRMM significantly moderated the association between future anxiety and PTG, weaking the detrimental effect of anxiety and facilitating growth at higher levels of meaning-making. These findings suggest that mortality-related distress may, under specific cognitive conditions, contribute to transformative psychological outcomes rather than solely to maladjustment.
This study investigates bereaved carers' experiences with end-of-life care and the factors associated with increased emergency department presentation, hospital admission and rates of hospital death in the last 90 days of life. Bereaved carers completed a modified Views of Informal Carers - Evaluation of Services - Short Form, and their responses were linked to the medical records of the decedents. The survey was sent to 1,546 people, and 246 surveys were returned (response rate 15.9%). 102 survey respondents reported their decedent had a known preference around place of death. 70/102 (68.6%) wished to die at home, but 187/246 (76.3%) died in hospital. Nevertheless, 200/243 (82.3%) of carers felt that the person died in the right place. Frequent attendance at emergency department was associated with bereaved carers feeling unsupported at home (χ2 = 8.74, p < 0.05), and with higher rates of hospital death (χ2 = 12.44, p < 0.05). Adequate help and support for carers at home is essential to reduce frequent emergency department attendance in the final months of life.
Death obsession is a common phenomenon in many societies. Adults may be more susceptible to death obsession compared to children and adolescents. However, death obsession in adults is not yet fully understood. This study investigates the relationship between religious faith, resilient mindset, resilience, presence of meaning in life, self-esteem, and death obsession in adults in Türkiye. This study was conducted with a total of 769 participants (Mage = 22.29, SD = 5.09). The results show that death obsession is negatively correlated to religious faith, resilient mindset, resilience, presence of meaning in life, and self-esteem. Mediation analysis has shown that resilient mindset, resilience, presence of meaning in life, and self-esteem mediate the relationship between religious faith and death obsession. All these findings have been discussed considering Terror Management Theory (TMT), and potential implications have been suggested.
As the U.S. population ages and interest in community-based approaches to death and dying grows, end-of-life doulas (EOLDs) are reshaping how individuals, families, and communities experience dying. Drawing on 23 interviews with practicing doulas, we identify the FAME model: facilitator, advocate, mediator, and educator. As facilitators, doulas make end-of-life plans actionable through practical, emotional, and existential support; as advocates, they amplify the voices of dying individuals and their families within healthcare institutions; as mediators, they navigate interpersonal dynamics and emotional tensions; and as educators, they demystify death and clarify options that are often unknown or misunderstood. Beyond identifying these roles, the FAME model delineates role boundaries, conceptualizes doula work in functional rather than spatial terms, and provides clearer language for articulating the scope of practice within this emerging field. Ultimately, we explore how doulas bridge Mallon's micro model, Abel's circles of care, and compassionate communities frameworks through micro-level caregiving, meso-level community engagement, and macro-level social change.
This study considers how adopting natural green burial practices can create pathways to a more sustainable future strongly rooted in Māori culture and ethics. Interviews were conducted with twenty-five Māori participants from diverse iwi (tribal) affiliations to investigate the feasibility of environmentally sustainable Māori mortuary and burial practices. Thematic analysis of the interviews highlighted three main areas of concern; impact of modern burials on environmental degradation framed through kaitiakitanga, (environmental guardianship), revival of pre-colonial practices and unaffordability of contemporary tangihanga (customary funerals). Urupā tautaiao (natural burials) emerge as a model reimagining precolonial death burial practices for the modern world. In doing so, it challenges the extractive logics of the post-colonial death industry and reactivates the moral, spiritual, and communal frameworks of environment care.
This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of perinatal grief literature, drawing on 964 articles published between 1981 and 2025 in the Web of Science Core Collection database. Using R-bibliometrix and VOSviewer, it explores conceptual evolution and structural dynamics, identifying leading authors, countries, journals, keywords, and co-citation networks. Findings reveal a marked increase in publications since 2018, with the United States leading in research output and international collaboration. Despite this growth, the field lacks author-level specialization. Recent studies have increasingly focused on the psychological well-being of families affected by perinatal loss. This analysis contributes to understanding global research patterns and highlights emerging directions for future interdisciplinary inquiry in the field of perinatal grief.
The present study aims to examine the existing body of research on technology-mediated bereavement support through a bibliometric analysis, employing the Dual Process Model as an analytical framework. A bibliometric analysis extracted articles published between 2022 and 2025 from the Web of Science database. Software used to process. The results were Bibliometrix and VOSviewer. Applying a minimum occurrence threshold of two, 13 keywords met the inclusion criteria and were grouped into five clusters. The identified clusters encompassed digital memorialization and online remembrance practices, social media-mediated grieving experiences, psychosocial support and coping processes, technology-assisted interventions, and emerging artificial intelligence-related bereavement contexts. The identified thematic clusters show that digital grief research is structured around distinct yet interconnected functional domains. By situating digital bereavement practices within the Dual Process Model, this study provides a theoretically grounded framework to guide future empirical and clinical research on digital grief.
Research suggests that end-of-life experiences (ELEs) - unusual or unexplained phenomena around the time of death - can positively influence the dying process. Despite this, few studies have examined whether and how ELEs affect the experience of grief for bereaved loved ones. Using a qualitative approach, the study explored how ELEs shaped grief for eight bereaved individuals based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the content of semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that ELEs can shape grief in complex ways - often involving conflicting emotions that can alter a bereaved loved one's perceptions of mortality and moderate the intensity of grief. The study also highlights barriers to sharing these experiences, with fear of judgement playing a key role. Future research may wish to further explore the relationship between ELEs and grief, particularly with underrepresented groups.
Early father-loss in childhood can exert lasting effects on self-structure, meaning, and spirituality. This scoping review maps scholarship on spiritual suffering and post-loss self-reconstruction, foregrounding an extended-self lens. Guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework, we searched PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and ProQuest, screened studies against predefined criteria, and synthesized findings narratively and thematically. Evidence depicts father-loss as a sustained disruption of identity and meaning, with spiritual suffering emerging as layered, contextually embedded, and developmentally variable. Four themes recur: (1) disruption to self-structure and the extended self, (2) spiritual suffering as a layered existential experience, (3) meaning reconstruction and the continuity of bonds, and (4) the role of narrative and metaphor in spiritual meaning-making. The literature seldom operationalizes extended-self explicitly and is dominated by Western contexts. We call for systematic, cross-cultural, developmentally sensitive research that integrates extended-self theory and mixed, longitudinal designs to clarify developmental trajectories.
This study investigates how terminally ill cancer patients on Douyin manage death anxiety through the curation of a "digital body." Drawing on a 12-month digital ethnography of 25 vloggers, the practice is theorized as "platformed thanatography." The analysis reveals the digital body serves a dual function: as a prosthetic self, it creates a persistent, future-oriented archive for symbolic immortality; as a therapeutic tool, it transforms chaotic suffering into a publicly validated narrative. It is argued that Douyin operates as a contemporary "technology of the dying self." Crucially, this existential agency is enacted within the platform's affective infrastructure, where algorithmic governance and a sympathy economy impose normative scripts of "ambivalent positivity" and commodify vulnerability. The study concludes that while digital platforms offer new resources for confronting mortality, they simultaneously subject the dying experience to the logics of datafication and extraction, highlighting critical tensions between digital immortality and embodied decay.
This study examines the construction of collective mourning and social memory in digital environments following the discovery of university student Ayşe Tokyaz's body in a suitcase, using a netnographic approach. Femicide is framed as a form of structural violence that produces societal trauma. A total of 414 online comments from Haberler.com were reviewed; 226 met the inclusion criteria, and 205 were analyzed after data cleaning. An integrated qualitative method combining thematic analysis, manual sentiment coding, and discourse analysis was employed. Findings highlight strong demands for justice and capital punishment, alongside distrust in the legal system and calls for retribution. Patriarchal norms appear in victim-blaming and sexist discourse, while demands to reveal the perpetrator's identity reflect "digital justice." Collective mourning is expressed through empathy and shared grief, whereas fear signals ongoing trauma. Some users invoke religious references. As a single-case study, findings are context-specific.
This longitudinal study examined the mental health impact of COVID-19 restrictions on individuals bereaved during the pandemic, focusing on the mediating role of grief-specific rumination. A total of 141 adults who lost a significant person during the COVID-19 pandemic completed questionnaires at two time points, assessing perceived restrictions, psychological impact, trauma, anxiety, depression, prolonged grief, and rumination. Results showed that high levels of restrictions' psychological impact were associated with elevated symptoms of trauma, anxiety, depression, and prolonged grief. Although only 8.5% met criteria for Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), trauma symptoms remained prevalent in 70.9% nearly a year after the loss. Mediation analyses showed that grief-specific rumination statistically accounted for the association between the psychological impact of restrictions and prolonged grief symptoms. The findings underscore the disruptive effects of pandemic-related restrictions on grieving processes and suggest that interventions targeting rumination may reduce long-term psychological distress in bereaved individuals.
This paper investigates the death practices in the largely undocumented linguaculture (interwoven ways of speaking and living) of the Circassian-speaking village of Kfar Kama in Israel. It employs two approaches, ethnography and the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM). Through the ethnographic approach, the paper provides a detailed account of what happens from the moment a person dies in Kfar Kama to the 40th-day memorial. Using NSM, the paper presents eight explications (simple definitions) and cultural scripts (short texts capturing cultural norms) related to death practices in Kfar Kama. The findings contribute to the fields of linguistics, thanatology, and anthropology, among other fields.
Children's drawings provide a unique view on their developing conceptualization of death, showing nuanced cognitive and emotional responses. This study mainly sought to explore the developmental processes underlying elementary schoolchildren's conceptualizations of death. Using qualitative multiple case study design, the researchers examined 65 drawings from 65 schoolchildren (Grades 2, 4, and 6) in one elementary school in the Philippines, which allowed them to analyze the children's unique conceptualizations and experiences of death across three grade levels. The researchers applied Tamm and Granqvist's (1995) category approach, which was based on Piaget's theory, together with participatory visual analysis. Results revealed that biological concepts of death appear to be the most visually pronounced for younger children (Grade 2), while older children (Grades 4 and 6) begin to incorporate more nuanced depictions (psychological, and metaphysical concepts) of death and dying. Similarly, psychological themes deepen with age. Younger children express sorrow in concrete ways (crying figures, sad faces), while older children begin to portray more abstract emotional states such as loneliness, void, or existential sadness. Metaphysical concepts become more elaborate and symbolically rich as children mature. Therefore, as children become older, their concepts of death change, which is due to their cognitive development.
How to recognize death and how to build up memories related to it is both solemn and sacred and full of mystery to the Chinese people, who have a deep traditional culture. This study focuses on the "digital mourning" of American basketball superstar Kobe Bryant by Chinese fans on social media platforms. Employing an exploratory research approach that combines virtual ethnography with semi-structured interviews, it analyzes how digital mourning for celebrities influences Chinese fans' memories of death and mourning rituals. The study found that following Kobe's death, social media accounts served as platforms for fans to engage with the deceased, bringing the emotional release central to the mourning process into the public sphere through "digital mourning" and shifting mourning rituals from the "private" realm of the individual to the "public" realm of the collective. Social media accounts used by Kobe during his lifetime, functioning as virtual extensions of physical mausoleums, have transformed into "digital tombs" where the living collectively commemorate the departed. Within the virtual, digital space constructed around this "digital tombs", fan communities not only spontaneously create "imagined interactions" with the deceased by transcending the barriers of time and space, but also seek emotional release and psychological solace. "Digital mourning" for celebrities places grief within a public sphere open to discussion, reshaping Chinese fans' perceptions of death in the social media era while also serving as a crucial entry point for analyzing the impact of digital mourning on the Chinese public's traditional memories of death.
As Japan's long-term care insurance system excludes support for bereaved families, care managers may provide this service for free. The extent and influencing factors of care managers' post-bereavement support require quantitative investigation. To research this extra-role behavior, a nationwide random sample of 1,400 homecare support facilities was selected from among the 10,176 with Designated Facility I, II, or III certification. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was distributed to full-time experienced care managers. Approximately 80% of the 538 returned questionnaires reported involvement in supporting bereaved families. Factors associated with the support level included gender, years of professional experience, bereavement training attendance, organization type (non-profit), workplace initiatives for supporting bereaved families, and perceived importance of user-centered support. To support bereaved families, care managers must develop a relationship with them before the client's death. Expanding bereaved-family support requires improving care managers' education and training and raising awareness of the service.
This study examined whether ego-resiliency and attitudes toward the mother mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and suicidal ideation among emerging adults. Employing convenience sampling, 605 non-clinical emerging adults (452 females, 74.7%; 153 males, 25.3%) completed validated self-report measures of childhood trauma, suicidal ideation, ego-resiliency, and attitudes toward the mother. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping (5,000 resamples) was used to test mediation effects. Results showed that childhood trauma was positively associated with suicidal ideation and negative attitudes toward the mother, and was negatively associated with ego-resiliency. Ego-resiliency significantly mediated the trauma-suicidal ideation pathway, whereas attitudes toward the mother did not. These findings underscore ego-resiliency's protective role against suicidal ideation in trauma-exposed emerging adults and suggest that interventions to enhance ego-resiliency may mitigate suicidal risk.
Deathcare workers routinely encounter suffering, dying, and death, which may generate both psychological strain and opportunities for existential growth. This study aimed to explore how continuous occupational exposure to dying and death shapes the lived experiences and meaning-making of deathcare workers, with particular attention to growth-consistent existential changes. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, 45 semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed to identify core meaning-making processes. Three primary Group Existential Themes emerged: appreciation for life and being present, authenticity and spontaneity, and pragmatic views of life and death, alongside an overarching process capturing the coexistence of emotional strain and growth. These themes reflect forms of vicarious post-traumatic growth, including shifts in worldview, priorities, and self-perception, while coexisting with emotional demands. The findings challenge deficit-focused narratives of deathcare work and highlight the need for organizational policies and death education initiatives that support reflection, dialogue, and meaning-making in these professions.
