Group Bereavement Support for Spouses Who Are Grieving the Loss of a Partner to Cancer

SUMMARY

This paper describes how a time-limited, closed bereavement support group for spouses and significant others was developed at a large, urban cancer center that had not had any formalized bereavement program for some time. This group was created in an attempt to reach out to people who were experiencing the appropriately difficult responses to grief after the loss of a loved one. This paper presents lessons and “best practices” derived from this experience, suggests standards for pre-group planning, and offers a glimpse of how a bereavement group can be especially beneficial to spouses within the first year of loss.

KEYWORDS:

• Bereavement
• spousal support group
• group work in oncology setting
• mutual-aid
• pre-group planning
• time-limited group
• beginnings
• middles
• endings