Grief and coping with COVID bereaved relatives

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Investigating prolonged grief disorder and its risk factors in next of kin following the death of a loved one to COVID19 in the intensive care unit. Please, see attached in the notes section my GCP certificate (November 2021) and a short (2 page CV).

• IRAS ID

  293480

• Contact name

  Sancho Rodriguez-Villar

• Contact email

  sancho.villar@nhs.net

• Sponsor organisation

  King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  PGD is an attachment disturbance following the death of a person close to the bereaved. The primary research aim is to identify the proportion of people who are struggling to cope with bereavement following the death of a loved one in the intensive care unit (ICU), due to COVID-19 e.g. proportion with prolonged grief disorder (PGD). The ICU is where the sickest patients are treated, and many COVID-19 patients are being admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 and dying here. These deaths are often unexpected, perhaps without an opportunity for the family member to say goodbye and may lack social support. All of which are risk factors for prolonged grief disorder. This is a prospective, observational study.
  We would also like to investigate risk factors and protective factors for PGD in next of kin following death of a loved one to COVID-19 in the ICU. By understanding the impact of grief and its possible risk factors, this enables assessment as to whether there is need for follow up of COVID-19 ICU bereaved relatives. The study would be conducted in 7 different ICU´s within King´s College NHS Foundation Hospital Trust. The study will last 6-12 months per participant and involves participants undertaking 2 telephone interviews: 6 months post loss and 12 months post-loss. During which participants will answer selected self-report questionnaires and some other questions. The area of study for this research is grief and mental health. Participants who are roughly 6 months post-loss, in July 2021, who are over 18 and whose relative spent at least 24 hours in the intensive care unit are eligible. The deceased relative is older than 18 and died in ICU. There is also a need for participants to have sufficient written and verbal English skills.

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  22/YH/0045

• Date of REC Opinion

  14 Apr 2022

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion