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Anticipatory grief nursing essay
Essays on anticipatory grief
Essays on anticipatory grief
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This summer I was assigned Final Gifts by Maggie Callahan and Patricia Kelley. Both authors worked as hospice nurses and were able to share their thirty-three years of first- hand experiences and knowledge with us to help better our understanding of the special awareness’s, needs, and communications of the dying. The book focuses profoundly on the physical, metaphysical, and psychological traits the dying encounter weeks or days before death. Both Kelley and Callahan are experts at observing every little behavior of the sick and being able to pinpoint specific signs that mean death is approaching. Not only does this book concentrate on the sick and their needs, but it also fits in the families and their duties in such hard times.
The case study is of an 80-year-old female whose survived an earthquake but loses her home, many of her worldly possessions and a widowed that is living on a limited income (Miller, 2011). Developing a Trusting Relationship Worden (2008) has proposed four headings under which complicated grief reactions can be categorized. The first process, chronic grief, in which the typical grief reactions continue for an excessive period of time without coming to a proper conclusion, The second heading of grief, delayed occurs some period of time after trauma or death. Heading three exaggerated grief, in
Bereavement and the Psyche: A Thematic Approach. The themes of “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “The Jilting Of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter are similar, in that, both stories seem to portray the importance of following the Kübler Ross Grief Cycle. This cycle is typically referred to as the ‘five stages of grief,’ and is comprised of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, respectively. In each story, the protagonist is affected by the death of an influential person in their lives; moreover, neither follow the suggested cycle.
For me, grief is a funny thing; it introduces itself as dismal emptiness, yet the more it familiarizes itself, it becomes a catalyst. My father had a multitude of health complications and endured a total of nineteen life-threatening crises. After a year of being hospitalized, he was finally discharged and returned to find solace anew with his family at home. During what appeared to be a normal day, my father felt disquieting unease and made his way to the hospital, only to be assured that all was well. Trusting the judgment of the medical staff, we continued on through our day.
Someone's grieving process can be shortened or lengthened depending on their relation to who they are grieving, how recent the loss is, or the type of loss that occurred. A study conducted in the International Journal of Phycology informed its readers, “As expected, subjects deemed it inappropriate to show positive emotions and experiences 1 month after a hypothetical death and more inappropriate to show negative reactions 1 year later…” This information informs us of the social normalities that these people have about the emotions you should be feeling during someone's grieving period. Later in this section of the article they write about how the expectations of socially appropriate behaviors are higher for someone who has lost a child rather than someone who had just lost a spouse. In their research they concluded that people tend to think of attending a social event, spending time with a partner, feeling sorry for oneself, and participating in personally satisfying activities much more appropriate 1 month after a death rather than 1 year.(International Journal of Phycology).
Anticipatory grief offers the support system additional time to gradually become used to the realism of the loss. Individuals are capable to complete incomplete business with the dying individual. Some examples are, saying "goodbye," "I love you," or "I forgive you", “fair well”, “You’ll always be
9), “provides nursing care across the lifespan that is informed by a variety of theories relevant to health and healing (e.g., nursing; family; communication and learning; crisis intervention; loss, grief and bereavement; systems; culture; community development; and population health theories)” (p. 10), and “provides nursing care to meet palliative care or end-of-life care needs (e.g., pain and symptom management, psychosocial and spiritual support, and support for significant others)” (p.10), among others. In this patient’s situation, first I had an open mind to the patient and her family, while recognizing the difficulties they must be facing with the sudden cancer diagnosis, language barriers, and other family dynamics. While I knew that I had so much ahead of me during my shift, I created an opportunity for family involvement in their care by asking what they wanted for their day and how they wanted care provided particularly bearing in mind the gender difference between the patient and myself.
A major implication of nurses working in end of life care, is the emotional toll their work would take. A qualitative study was undertaken in Sweden, assessing nurses’ experiences of caring for palliative patients. Eight Registered Nurses with varying experience (range from 3 years to 32 years) participated in the study, assessing their personal coping mechanisms and how they approached their role in end of life care. The nurses expressed a range of emotions, explaining that they all felt a strong desire to do their best and the difficulty in always being able to do so (Johansson & Lindahl, 2012). A nursing implication that all eight participants experienced was the difficulty but necessity of maintaining professional boundaries and relationships.
Returning to work may seem unimaginable for those who are experiencing a loss in their life. According to Hazen, “Grief and its effects on the individual and the family are well studied in the psychology and sociology literatures, but relatively little is known about how grief affects the workplace (Hazen, 2008)” The fact that there is little information about how grief affects the work place seems shocking, considering people spend at least as much time at work as they do at home (Hazen, 2008). A survey conducted by James and Freeman indicates, “People experiencing grief tend to bury their stress through their work, substance abuse, or obesity (Hazen, 2008).” When someone experiences a loss, if their grief is ignored, or other people’s actions
Miscarriage or miscarry, a term coined in 1275-1325, has been identified in the literature as a key component in Medicine, Science and Death (Green, 2000). The seven stages of grief are correlated with important attributes in nursing such as empathy, emotional support, problem solving, and professionalism (Kubler-Ross, 1969). In Understanding Dying, Death, and Bereavement, Michael R. Leming and George E. Dickinson writes about the many ways to cope with loss, whether it be personal or professional. The purpose of this paper is to define miscarriage, explain how the seven stages of grief correlate in dealing with miscarriage, and describe how nursing plays an important role in miscarriage and the seven stages of grief.
After a death or loss of something close, people usually react similarly by going through the five stages of grief. These stages include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. During a death of my Great Aunt, my family went through the stages of grief. I was close with her when I was younger, but I do not have many memories I remember with her so I did not experience much grief. On the other hand, my Great Uncle went through a lot of grief since she was his older sister.
In anticipatory grief the life of the patient and their family is re-examined; the closeness of relationships, life accomplishments and the anticipation of missed family events. It is preparing for a
and have gone back to the routine of their lives. In order to continue in the grieving process, a more orderly existence will follow suit where emotions become more fluid and alternate. In the third stage, known as the upheaval the families and their loved ones may have to cope with setbacks and deterioration in the individual's health, as well as periods of seeming remission depending on the ailment of the dying individual. For these loved ones, dealing with the complexities of extended grief which can last weeks, months, or even years can be overwhelming. As a negative effect this can lead to the ambivalence of emotions as well as lacking the wisdom of moving to the next stage.
old at the time, completely overwhelmed with grief and my steadily declining mental health. Over the past nine years of my life since my father’s passing I’ve struggled with everything from social anxiety, bullying and toxic relationships to major depression, suicide attempts, and hospitalizations. My family and I were at a loss and no one seemed to know how to truly help me in a way that would dismantle the ticking time bomb in my head telling me the worlds better off without me. I thought god had forgotten about me and the only way I could ever find belonging and peace would require joining my father in the afterlife.
LOSS, GRIEF AND HEALING As human beings, we suffer losses of many kinds and sizes in our life time. While some of these losses are small and do not hurt much, some are big and hurt deeply. Those that are accompanied by pains that are difficult to bear include the loss of a loved one through death or divorce, cheating or unfaithfulness in a trusted relationship or loss of good health when a diagnosis of a terminal illness is made. In all these instances of loss, pain and grief are experienced and an emotional wound is created which needs healing.