Resolving anticipatory grief and enhancing dignity at the end-of life: A systematic review of palliative interventions

Abstract

Anticipatory grief is the experience of grief symptomatology prior to loss. This study is a systematic review of empirical interventions or interventional components that were observed to lessen or adaptively direct the experience of anticipatory grief for patients at the end of life and their family members. A search of 5 major databases found 13,718 articles, of which 10 high-quality randomized controlled trials were included for final review. Lebow’s “adaptational tasks of anticipatory mourning” was employed as a working model on the efficacy of the interventions. The interventions exhibited some positive outcomes but none addressed anticipatory grief directly. Recommendations for future research are discussed.

Acknowledgements

The study is funded by the Singapore Ministry of Education (MoE) Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 2 (Ref: MOE2016-T2-1-061). MoE has played no role in study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of data, or preparation of manuscripts. The authors would like to extend their thanks to Ms. Yasmin Lynda Munro, Ms. Oindila Dutta, Ms. Natalie Kang and Ms. Thurga Rajen for their support in this endeavor.