Bereavement risk assessment in end-of-life care has been identified as a critical indicator of quality practice. Palliative care standards and policies promote support to bereaved caregivers; however, research indicates that bereavement support tends to be delivered on a piecemeal, ad hoc basis without formal assessment of risk or need. Risk assessment is often based on staff observation using in-house checklists or multidisciplinary team opinion.
The presentation by Chris Hall considered validated methods of assessing bereavement risk, the efficacy of bereavement interventions for sub-groups of bereaved individuals and how we might link bereavement risk assessment to a range of bereavement interventions.