Bereavement in the Modern World: Kindness in the chaos

NHS Education for Scotland's fifth Bereavement Education Conference took place on Tuesday 3rd December #NESBereavement2024  

Programme

Click here or on the image on the right hand side to download 

Explore the conference sessions

Below you can find descriptions and short film clips from conference speakers which were recorded ahead of the event. The clips provide an overview of the sessions.

Plenary Sessions

Opening Plenary - The truth about suicide, the impact on staff and what helps

Dr Rachel Gibbons, Chair Working Group on the Effect of Suicide and Homicide on Clinicians, Vice-Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty, Royal College of Psychiatrists Consultant Psychiatrist and Consultant Medical Psychotherapist

Rachel discussed the truth about suicide, the impact on staff and what helps.

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here.

Slides to accompany the plenary can be viewed here.

Morning Plenary - What Remains: using animation to engage audiences with after-death practices

Professor Erica Borgstrom, Professor of Medical Anthropology, The Open University, Co-editor in Chief for Mortality, Co-editor of the book series Death and Culture Council Member for the Association for the Study of Death and Society

Erica used an example of an award-winning animation that she has been involved in to think about how we engage with audiences educationally, emotionally, and creatively to think about issues around death and bereavement. The animation explores a diversity of practices around what is done after someone dies, opening to questioning about what one may want and what the future potentially holds.

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here.

Slides to accompany the plenary can be viewed here.

Afternoon Plenary - Death in Paradise - a particularly tragic event

Dr C George M Fernie, Senior Medical Reviewer and Caldicott Guardian, Healthcare Improvement Scotland Appraisal Lead, National Services Scotland and Partner Organisation Vice Chair, UK Caldicott Guardian Council Visiting Professor, Centre for Contemporary Coronial Law, The University of Bolton

George discussed repatriation and the role the Death Certification Review Service has in supporting people return their loved ones body to Scotland as their final resting place for burial or cremation.

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here.

Slides to accompany the plenary can be viewed here.

Afternoon Plenary - The Language of Grief: How metaphors can help us to understand and support the grieving process

Dr Sarah Turner, Assistant Professor (Research) of Cognitive Linguistics, Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities, Coventry University

Sarah shared examples of some of the language used by parents to talk about their experience, how they perceived the care and communication that they received, and also the relationships that we can draw between these two elements. 

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here. 

Slides to accompany the plenary can be viewed here.

Closing Plenary - Calm in the Chaos: harnessing the power of self compassion

Dr Wendy Simpson, Health Psychologist and Staff Well-being Facilitator, NHS Fife

Wendy explored the power of self-compassion to help us through the grieving process. This session described what self-compassion is, what it's not, and how it helps us, as defined in the scientific literature. Together, delegates reflected on how we can be more self-compassionate and how we can practice it in our daily lives so that it becomes a habit which can boost our wellbeing and help us cope during grief and loss.  

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here.

Slides to accompany the plenary can be viewed here.

Morning Parallel Sessions

Help Researchers from the University of Glasgow Develop a Bereavement Toolkit for Care Home Staff

Professor Bridget Johnston, Clinical Professor of Nursing and Palliative Care, University of Glasgow / NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 

Dr Maria Drummond, Post Doctoral Research Associate University of Glasgow

This project aims to develop and evaluate a toolkit that will be used by care home staff to support bereaved family members, friends and other residents following the death of a resident. This project uses a co-design approach with patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) weaved throughout. This means that key stake holders are heavily involved in the project. Attendees of this session were invited to participate in a PPIE activity. They gave feedback on focus group data and the toolkit. This allowed opportunity to learn about the importance of PPIE and caring for people who are bereaved.

Slides to accompany the session can be viewed here.

“Your Child has Died” – Using simulation training to improve care for bereaved families

Gill Burton, Acting Executive Director, Scottish Cot Death Trust

Professionals that respond to a sudden unexpected child death often find the procedures that surround this complex and can find the emotional and psychological needs of families challenging to support. This session took attendees through simulation training as an important method of experiential learning for staff. The session covered the evidence base for the efficacy of simulation training, the requirements to rollout simulation training and specific benefits which staff report to this kind of training in terms of impact analysis from two pilots which have been run across NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Fife.

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here.

Bereavement Following a Sudden Cardiac Death

Helena Davidson, Clinical Nurse Specialist and Co-ordinator for Sudden Cardiac Death and OOHCA, Inherited Cardiac Conditions West of Scotland, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde

Lisa Hay, Registered Genetic Counsellor, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde

The news of a sudden death is traumatic, and creates very strong emotions including anger and disbelief. This session discussed the current project in the WoS Inherited Cardiac Conditions Service (ICS) to improve the pathway for families following a Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). One of the key aspects of this project is to improve psychological and bereavement support for families in Scotland affected by SCD. The session discussed the purpose of coordinator role within the SCD care pathway and improving immediate emotional and psychological support. The session demonstrated how the care coordinator role and ICS can help family’s access essential resources.

My Grief My Way: the development of an online bereavement support package integrating Acceptance and Commitment Training and grief theories

David Gillanders, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology

Anne Finucane, Senior Marie Curie Research Fellow

Anne Canny, Research Associate, University of Edinburgh

This session described the development and evaluation of My Grief My Way (MGMW). MGMW is an online support package that uses Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) to help people to grieve effectively. MGMW uses video stories of people’s grief. It also uses video, worksheets and audio exercises to nurture psychological skills for grieving in a healthy way. Nature imagery, poetry and metaphor are used to enhance engagement. MGMW can be used as pure self-help, or guided self-help with a volunteer. This session introduced delegates to ACT and the MGMW website.

Slides to accompany the session can be viewed here.

Bereavement in the Workplace: responding to the death of a colleague

Lynne Innes, Lead for Spiritual Staff Care & Wellbeing, NHS Fife

Some health and social care staff may, during their working life, experience the death of a peer or colleague. Knowing what to say and do in these circumstances to provide support to ourselves and others can be challenging and naturally people may feel apprehensive.

The NHS Education for Scotland Bereavement Education Programme has developed a suite of five e-Learning modules and a range of film resources that cover certain aspects of responding to a colleague’s death. The modules draw both on current guidance to enable staff to offer a person-centred approach which is educationally evidence informed, as well as incorporating real-life case studies which can be used for reflection and discussion.

This session explored how to sensitively share the news about the death of a colleague, considerations for employers and managers, support and wellbeing, and memorialising and remembering.

Afternoon Parallel Sessions

Singing for Happiness: Understanding how singing in groups can improve mood and overall wellbeing

Samir Savant, Chief Executive, St George's Bristol

Kat Branch, Head of Centre for Music, UWE Bristol

This unusual and engaging session demonstrated how group singing can improve social and psychological wellbeing, sharing the early findings of the first iteration of Sing for Happiness: the largest UK group singing study to date that was open to all members of the public (rather than those with a specific health concern) many of whom had never sung before and/or believed they ‘could not sing’. These results will be contextualised into existing research about group singing and bereavement alongside the project founder’s own journey of bereavement and singing, including suggestions about how clinicians can apply this knowledge.

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here.

Learning Kindness through Literature: prospects and limitations in the UK and Australia

Dr Tamarin Norwood, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow Loughborough University

Dr Loralie Rodrigues, Senior Clinical Teaching Fellow, Warwick Medical School

Sara Ormes, Undergraduate Student, Warwick Medical School

Dr Katharine Gillett, Practising Midwife and Lecturer in Midwifery, Newcastle School of Nursing and Midwifery Australia

Professor John Boulton, Emeritus Professor and Conjoint Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle

This paper presents two parallel qualitative studies – at Warwick Medical School (UK) and Newcastle School of Nursing and Midwifery (Australia) – measuring the impact of reading a literary account of bereavement upon trainee doctors and midwives. The data, collected through focus groups and questionnaires (with long-term follow-up planned), indicate that literary accounts such as grief memoirs can expose healthcare professionals to lived experiences of grief more effectively than brief clinical encounters or other modes of teaching and learning.

Click on the image to watch the video or here to view it on the NHS Education for Scotland Vimeo channel.

A transcript of this video can be found here.

Developing a bereavement competency framework. An evidence base for an eLearning resource for bereavement service providers in the community

Amanda Roberts, National Bereavement Development Manager, Irish Hospice Foundation

The Framework for Adult Bereavement Care, based on the public health approach, suggests that people who experience bereavement have needs ranging from acknowledgement and compassion at Level 1 (all bereaved people) to specialist therapeutic support at Level 4 (minority of bereaved people). The framework also identifies supports/services appropriate to meet each level of need and the corresponding knowledge/skills for those providing support. However, there are no agreed standards for bereavement care services in Ireland, nor agreed competencies for service providers at any level of care. 

The first phase of the project aimed to develop a CORE Competence Framework for bereavement service providers working at Level 2. A literature review of competence in bereavement care and aligned areas was conducted. The findings from this review informed a two-round eDelphi survey which was used to develop the competence framework. In the second phase, this framework was used to inform the development of an eLearning training resource for bereavement service providers. 

This session outlined the rigour and robust methodology used to develop the CORE competence framework for Bereavement Service provider working at Level 2 of the Framework for Adult Bereavement Care, describe the value of the framework and introduce the eLearning programme which provides an introductory level learning to each of the five competence domains outlined in the Competence Framework.

Slides to accompany the session can be viewed here.

 

Supporting Difficult Conversations around Bereavement and Grief and the Importance of Self-Care

Donna Hastings, Head of Patient and Family Support, Senior Clinical Team

Jade Finlayson, Child and Families Lead Practitioner, St Columba’s Hospice Care

Slides to accompany the session can be viewed here.

A Right Delayed is a Right Denied: the role of bereavement support in a proposed right to palliative care in Scotland

Amy Dalrymple, Associate Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Marie Curie

Ellie Wagstaff, Senior Policy Manager, Marie Curie

A large proportion of people die without some or all of the palliative support they need despite the fact 90% of people who die in Scotland each year would benefit from it. This unmet need leads to poorer physical and mental health, and financial outcomes for terminally ill people, their families, and carers, including unmet bereavement need.

A legal right to palliative care would work towards eliminating this unmet need, by people of all ages living with terminal illness(es) residing in Scotland having equitable access to the palliative support which is right for them, when they need it- including bereavement support.

This session explored the opportunities and/or challenges a right to palliative care would bring to addressing unmet bereavement needs, funding infrastructure required to deliver bereavement support as part of a right to palliative care and the responsibility and accountability for the delivery, implementation, and measurement of a right to palliative care.

Slides to accompany the session can be viewed here.

Informal & Peer-Led Bereavement Support: applying findings of a systematic review to health and social care

Dr Daniel Knights, GP and Cambridge Clinical Research Fellow, University of Cambridge

The majority of bereaved individuals do not require specialist bereavement care, but find informal support from peers to be most helpful. However understanding of how to harness these forms of support most effectively remains limited. This workshop presented the findings of a major systematic review into the evidence for impact of informal and peer-led bereavement support interventions, incorporating studies of peer-support groups, one-to-one peer support, social media usage, online forums and self-administered writing tools amongst others. The review also looked for evidence around interface of informal support interventions with health and social care, but very little was found. This session gathered the collective views and experience of workshop participants to develop recommendations for how health and social care could best tailor their services and signpost effectively to these forms of support.

Posters

View all the conference posters below: