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A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Whilst any type of bereavement can be traumatic, bereavement through violent or sudden causes is associated with more severe negative health and wellbeing outcomes compared to other types of loss. Social support has been found to have a positive impact on wellbeing after traumatic events in general. However, this association appears to be less consistently demonstrated in studies that focus on bereavement, and the literature in this area has not yet been systematically reviewed. This study aimed to review the international literature to examine systematically whether there is an association between informal social support from family and friends after bereavement through sudden and/or violent causes and post-bereavement wellbeing. METHODS:We conducted a systematic search for quantitative studies that tested for an association between social support and any outcome related to wellbeing after a sudden and/or violent loss. Included studies were assessed for quality, and findings were reported using the approach of narrative synthesis. The review was pre-registered on Prospero (registration number CRD42018093704). RESULTS:We identified 16 papers that met inclusion criteria, 11 of which we assessed as being of good or fair quality and 5 as poor quality. Fifteen different wellbeing outcomes were measured across all studies. We found consistent evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of depression, predominantly consistent evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and conflicting evidence for an inverse association between social support and symptoms/presence of complicated grief. CONCLUSIONS:Our systematic review identified evidence to suggest that social support after sudden or violent bereavement is associated with a reduced severity of depressive and PTSD symptoms. Further longitudinal research is needed to explore potential causality in this relationship, widening the focus from common mental disorders to include other mental illnesses, wellbeing outcomes, and suicide-related outcomes after bereavement. There is also a need for consensus on the conceptualisation and measurement of social support. Our findings imply that interventions to improve access to and quality of social support may reduce the burden of mental illness after bereavement, and may therefore be worth investing in.

SUBMITTER: Scott HR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7257446 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death.

Scott H R HR Pitman A A Kozhuharova P P Lloyd-Evans B B

BMC psychiatry 20200529 1

<h4>Background</h4>Whilst any type of bereavement can be traumatic, bereavement through violent or sudden causes is associated with more severe negative health and wellbeing outcomes compared to other types of loss. Social support has been found to have a positive impact on wellbeing after traumatic events in general. However, this association appears to be less consistently demonstrated in studies that focus on bereavement, and the literature in this area has not yet been systematically reviewe ...[more]

PMID: 32471407

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Project description:ObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that people bereaved by suicide are less likely to receive formal or informal support than people bereaved by other causes of sudden death.DesignNational cross-sectional study.SettingAdults working or studying at any UK higher education institution (HEI) in 2010.ParticipantsA total of 3432 eligible respondents aged 18-40 years bereaved by the sudden death of a close friend or relative, sampled from approximately 659 572 bereaved and non-bereaved staff and students at 37 of 164 UK HEIs invited to participate.ExposuresBereavement by suicide (n=614; 18%), by sudden unnatural causes (n=712; 21%) and by sudden natural causes (n=2106; 61%).Main outcome measuresReceipt of formal and informal support postbereavement; timing of valued support.Results21% (725/3432) of our sample of bereaved adults reported receiving no formal or informal bereavement support, with no evidence for group differences. People bereaved by suicide were less likely to have received informal support than those bereaved by sudden natural causes (adjusted OR (AOR)=0.79; 95% CI 0.64 to 0.98) or unnatural causes (AOR=0.74; 95% CI 0.58 to 0.96) but did not differ from either comparison group on receipt of formal support. People bereaved by suicide were less likely to have received immediate support (AOR=0.73; 95% CI 0.59 to 0.90) and more likely to report delayed receipt of support (AOR=1.33; 95% CI 1.08 to 1.64) than people bereaved by sudden natural causes. Associations were not modified by gender, or age bereaved, but became non-significant when adjusting for stigma.ConclusionsPeople bereaved by suicide are less likely to receive informal support than people bereaved by other causes of sudden death and are more likely to perceive delays in accessing any support. This is concerning given their higher risk of suicide attempt and the recommendations within suicide prevention strategies regarding their need for support.Study registrationhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/bereavementstudy/.

Project description:The death of a child is a devastating event for parents. In many high income countries, following an unexpected death, there are formal investigations to find the cause of death as part of wider integrated child death review processes. These processes have a clear aim of establishing the cause of death but it is less clear how bereaved families are supported. In order to inform better practice, a literature review was undertaken to identify what is known about what bereaved parents want from professionals following an unexpected child death.This was a mixed studies systematic review with a thematic analysis to synthesize findings. The review included papers from Europe, North America or Australasia; papers had to detail parents' experiences rather than professional practices.The review includes data from 52 papers, concerning 4000 bereaved parents. After a child has died, parents wish to be able to say goodbye to them at the hospital or Emergency Department, they would like time and privacy to see and hold their child; parents may bitterly regret not being able to do so. Parents need to know the full details about their child's death and may feel that they are being deliberately evaded when not given this information. Parents often struggle to obtain and understand the autopsy results even in the cases where they consented for the procedure. Parents would like follow-up appointments from health care professionals after the death; this is to enable them to obtain further information as they may have been too distraught at the time of the death to ask appropriate questions or comprehend the answers. Parents also value the emotional support provided by continuing contact with health-care professionals.All professionals involved with child deaths should ensure that procedures are in place to support parents; to allow them to say goodbye to their child, to be able to understand why their child died and to offer the parents follow-up appointments with appropriate health-care professionals.

Project description:ImportanceQT-prolonging medications (QTPMs) are a reported risk factor for sudden cardiac death (SCD) when defined by consensus criteria that presume an arrhythmic cause. The effect of QTPM on autopsy-defined sudden arrhythmic death (SAD) is unknown.ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between QTPM and autopsy-defined SAD vs nonarrhythmic cause of sudden death.Design, setting, and participantsThis prospective countywide case-control study included World Health Organization-defined (presumed) SCD cases who underwent autopsy as part of the San Francisco Postmortem Systematic Investigation of Sudden Cardiac Death Study (POST SCD) to determine arrhythmic or nonarrhythmic cause, and control deaths due to trauma (hereinafter referred to as trauma controls) in San Francisco County, California, from February 1, 2011, to March 1, 2014. Multivariate regression was used to evaluate the association of QTPM with the risk of presumed SCD, autopsy-defined SAD, and non-SAD compared with trauma controls. Medication exposure, determined by prescription lists and postmortem toxicologic findings, was used to calculate a summative QTPM exposure score (range, 0-20). Data were analyzed from September 1, 2018, to June 15, 2019.ExposureQT-prolonging medication exposure, as measured by QTPM score (1 indicated low; 2-4, moderate; and >4, high).Main outcomes and measuresDeath due to trauma, presumed SCD, and autopsy-defined non-SAD and SAD with no postmortem findings of extracardiac cause.ResultsA total of 629 patients (mean [SD] age, 61.4 [15.7] years; 439 men [69.8%]) were included, 525 with presumed SCDs and 104 traumatic death controls. Individuals with presumed SCDs had higher exposure and were more likely to be taking any QTPM (291 [55.4%] vs 28 [26.9%]; P?<?.001) than trauma controls. Use of QTPMs was associated with increased risk of presumed SCD in low (odds ratio [OR], 2.25 [95% CI, 1.03-4.96]; P?=?.04) and high (OR, 6.70 [95% CI, 1.47-30.67]; P?=?.01) exposure groups. After autopsy adjudication, use of QTPMs was associated with increased risk of non-SAD (low-risk OR, 2.88 [95% CI, 1.18-6.99; P?=?.02]; moderate-risk OR, 2.62 [95% CI, 1.20-5.73; P?=?.02]; and high-risk OR, 14.22 [95% CI, 2.91-69.30; P?=?.001]) but not SAD in all exposure groups. This association was attenuated by the exclusion of occult overdose non-SADs in the highest exposure group.Conclusions and relevanceThese findings confirm the association between QTPMs and presumed SCD; however, after autopsy, this risk was specific for nonarrhythmic causes of sudden death. Studies using consensus SCD criteria may overestimate the association of QTPMs with the risk of SAD.

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A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death.

Publications

A systematic review of studies describing the influence of informal social support on psychological wellbeing in people bereaved by sudden or violent causes of death.

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