NCT03985592

ICU BEREAVE: Feasibility of a Multi-component Bereavement Support Intervention to Prevent Severe Grief Reaction

Terminated NA Last updated 20 March 2025

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Education in Severe Grief Reaction in 12 participants. Terminated before completion.

Timeline

2 February 2020

Primary endpoint
7 February 2024

7 February 2024

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Phase	NA
Status	Terminated
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	non randomized
Design	crossover
Masking	none
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	12
Start date	2 February 2020
Primary completion	7 February 2024
Estimated completion	7 February 2024
Sites	1 location across Canada

Drugs / interventions tested

• Education

Conditions studied

• Severe Grief Reaction — all drugs for Severe Grief Reaction →

Sponsor

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Severe Grief Reaction. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Nearly 1% of the Canadian population dies every year. When people die, their bereaved family members (FMs) normally experience grief that diminishes over time and without serious psychological or medical impairment. However, some FMs experience a severe grief reaction (SGR) with intense symptoms and impairment lasting months or years; this is more common among FMs of those who die in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Many bereaved FMs would like to have bereavement support, and many ICU organizations identify bereavement support as a clinical and research priority, yet few ICUs provide routine support.

In order to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a complex support intervention for bereaved FMs, the investigators will pilot a multi-component bereavement intervention through a mixed-methods study. Methods will include a series of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and narrative therapy sessions. The target population for this study is both ICU clinical staff (e.g. physicians, registered nurses \[RN\], allied health professionals) and FMs of relatives who died in the ICU. The intervention is premised on a robust series of educational modules aimed at increasing ICU staff members' knowledge of and level of comfort with bereavement support ICU FMs.

In a previous study, the investigators have established that SGRs can be predicted using screening tools early after the loss, and that ICU-based clinicians are eager to provide bereavement support. There are effective treatments for SGRs once they have been diagnosed after 6 months, but this can mean many months of suffering for the FM. In this project, the investigators plan to develop and test the feasibility of an early bereavement support program that follows bereaved FMs after a loss, provides information and support, and uses effective therapies aimed at preventing the development of a SGR.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.