Working Through Grief and Loss: Oncology Nurses' Perspectives on Professional Bereavement
- 27 June 2011
- journal article
- Published by Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) in Oncology Nursing Forum
- Vol. 38 (4), E272-E282
- https://doi.org/10.1188/11.onf.e272-e282
Abstract
To determine facilitators and barriers to managing patient loss from the combined perspectives of oncology nurses and to extract essential components of a supportive intervention. Qualitative, descriptive. The comprehensive National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center of a mid-Atlantic university teaching hospital. 34 nurses from inpatient and outpatient adult and pediatric oncology units. Focus groups were held with oncology staff nurses to identify challenges regarding work-related bereavement, current support for managing grief and loss, and how to support interpersonal functioning and resiliency. Work-related bereavement, bereavement support, and interventions and management strategies for bereavement and loss. Two primary themes emerged: dimensions of work-related loss and working through bereavement. Participants also provided many concrete suggestions for the creation of a supportive self-care environment. Support issues were numerous, multilevel, and varied. However, addressing those concerns can improve job satisfaction and decrease compassion fatigue. The findings lay the foundation for appropriate interventions to assist nurses in managing those situations. Administrators, managers, and individuals interested in furthering the multifaceted goals of oncology care, including nurses themselves, are challenged to create and maintain mutually supportive environments for providing optimal care to patients and families.Keywords
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- Planning and conducting focus group research with nursesNurse Researcher, 2011
- Compassion fatigue in nursesApplied Nursing Research, 2010
- Effects of a Palliative Care Intervention on Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Advanced CancerJAMA, 2009
- Enhancing the capacity of oncology nurses to provide supportive care for parents with advanced cancer: Evaluation of an educational interventionEuropean Journal of Cancer, 2009
- Job stress and job satisfaction of physicians, radiographers, nurses and physicists working in radiotherapy: a multicenter analysis by the DEGRO Quality of Life Work GroupRadiation Oncology, 2009
- Interventions to Manage Compassion Fatigue in Oncology NursingClinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 2009
- Intrusive images in grief: an exploratory studyClinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 2008
- Focus groups in nursing researchNurse Researcher, 2007
- Making sense of focus groupsMedical Education, 2005
- The learning curve: the advantages and disadvantages in the use of focus groups as a method of data collectionNurse Researcher, 2004