{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,9]],"date-time":"2025-12-09T13:06:56Z","timestamp":1765285616598,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,9]],"date-time":"2025-12-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765238400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted bereavement care, posing risks of long-term physical and mental health consequences. To ensure the lived experience was captured during this challenging time, a national survey was conducted to examine the Irish population\u2019s experiences of dying, death, and bereavement during the pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A mixed-methods survey study was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. Using purposive sampling, a sample of adults completed a 38-question survey. Of the 2,259 participants who completed the survey, 1,223 reported one or more bereavements during the COVID-19 pandemic. This sub-sample of bereaved participants completed the Brief Grief Questionnaire (BGQ). Quantitative data from the sub-sample of 1,223 bereaved individuals were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative responses were analysed using thematic analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Most participants reported that their bereavement experience was negatively affected by COVID-19, with key themes including loss of connection (including lost opportunities to say goodbye), loss of ritual, and valuing community support. Despite altered funeral structures, many participants found comfort from the efforts made by others to honour the deceased. The BGQ results showed that 59.7% screened negative for Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), 26.1% were likely to indicate sub-threshold PGD, and 14.2% were likely to have PGD. Significant associations were found between BGQ scores and several variables including lack of support for bereaved people, relationship to the person that died and being with their loved one at time of death.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional end-of-life and mourning practices. The society-wide implementation of public health measures sought to prevent the spread of COVID-19, particularly among our vulnerable populations, but had a deep impact on the dying, death, and bereavement experience in Ireland. This paper gives voice to the bereavement experience of families, friends, and communities and highlights ways to support people who are grieving.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2025.1611824","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,9]],"date-time":"2025-12-09T13:02:22Z","timestamp":1765285342000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A public health model for bereavement care: learnings from COVID-19 bereavement experiences in Ireland"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Elizabeth","family":"Weathers","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fankun","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Helen","family":"Coughlan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Avril","family":"Easton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Orla","family":"Keegan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"WHO director-general's statement on IHR emergency committee on novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"WHO director-general's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19\u201427 2020","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"10440","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(24)00367-2","article-title":"Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990\u20132021: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2021","volume":"403","author":"Banach","year":"2024","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref4","year":""},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1330370","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1330370","article-title":"Challenges for palliative care in times of COVID-19: a scoping review","volume":"12","author":"Louren\u00e7o","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2025.02.078","article-title":"Prevalence and correlates of positive and negative psychological effects of bereavement due to COVID-19: a systematic review","volume":"378","author":"Reitsma","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1015","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-021-11111-1","article-title":"Effective public health measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19: a systematic review","volume":"21","author":"Ayouni","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"257","DOI":"10.34172\/hpp.2020.40","article-title":"Communicating health crisis: a content analysis of global media framing of COVID-19","volume":"10","author":"Ogbodo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Health Promot Perspect"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"922994","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2022.922994","article-title":"Death and mourning processes in the times of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)","volume":"13","author":"Gim\u00e9nez-Llort","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front Psych"},{"key":"ref10","volume-title":"Time to reflect: Survey of ECNEs 2023","year":"2024"},{"key":"ref11","volume-title":"The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on bereavement and grief","author":"Pinto","year":""},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1215881","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2023.1215881","article-title":"Prolonged grief during and beyond the pandemic: factors associated with levels of grief in a four time-point longitudinal survey of people bereaved in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"11","author":"Harrop","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"745","DOI":"10.1177\/00302228211027461","article-title":"College student experiences of grief and loss amid the COVID-19 global pandemic","volume":"87","author":"Sirrine","year":"2023","journal-title":"OMEGA-J. 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