TY - JOUR
AU - K. Gerber
AU - L. Hjorth
AU - C. Bryant
AU - K. Lock
AU - T. W. H. Chong
AU - L. Engel
AU - D. Hills
AU - S. M. Loi
AU - P. White
AU - K. Shimoinaba
AU - B. Brijnath
A1 - 
AB - OBJECTIVES: Bereaved older adults often experience health complications, yet receive limited support in primary care settings. This research explored general practice staff's exposure to older patients' grief and identified barriers/enablers to bereavement support. METHODS: We examined 15 in-depth interviews with general practitioners and practice nurses across Australia. Data were analyzed thematically and via poetic narrative analysis, an innovative arts-based method to meaningfully translate participant's lived experience and emotions. RESULTS: Exposure to older people's grief and bereavement informed primary care staff assumptions about older people's grief, their ability to identify signs of grief, their understanding of how culture, gender, and grief intersected, and how grief could be managed in general practice (e.g. mobilizing nurses to provide support). Barriers/enablers to bereavement support included: Communication, access to support, time to discuss concerns, and knowledge/awareness of grief complications. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults require access to tailored support that addresses their experiences of repeated exposure to grief and loss. Primary care is a key conduit to specialist services but to make such referrals more training is needed on ageism and stigmas surrounding mental health. Arts-based methods can open a dialogue about grief and destigmatize help-seeking among older adults. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Clear documentation of grief in patients' medical records; Destigmatizing mental health support among older patients; and Training primary care staff on grief, age-, culture- and gender-specific needs, and available resources can overcome some of the identified barriers to bereavement support. Primary care providers can use consultations with older patients to enquire about potential recent bereavements and mental health support needs, going beyond the mere assessments of physical symptoms. Timely assessment and documentation of grief in older patients can facilitate appropriate referrals and access to support services; this is a key task for general practitioners, who are gatekeepers to the healthcare system.
AD - Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.; Melbourne Ageing Research Collaboration, National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.; School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.; School of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.; Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.; St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Kew, Australia.; School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.; Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, Federation University Australia, Berwick, Australia.; Health Care Solutions, Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association, Melbourne, Australia.; Neuropsychiatry, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia.; School of Nursing & Midwifery, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.; Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.; School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.
AN - 41770778
BT - Clin Gerontol
C5 - Healthcare Disparities
CP - 2
DA - Mar-Apr
DO - 10.1080/07317115.2024.2321341
DP - NLM
ET - 20240305
IS - 2
JF - Clin Gerontol
LA - eng
N2 - OBJECTIVES: Bereaved older adults often experience health complications, yet receive limited support in primary care settings. This research explored general practice staff's exposure to older patients' grief and identified barriers/enablers to bereavement support. METHODS: We examined 15 in-depth interviews with general practitioners and practice nurses across Australia. Data were analyzed thematically and via poetic narrative analysis, an innovative arts-based method to meaningfully translate participant's lived experience and emotions. RESULTS: Exposure to older people's grief and bereavement informed primary care staff assumptions about older people's grief, their ability to identify signs of grief, their understanding of how culture, gender, and grief intersected, and how grief could be managed in general practice (e.g. mobilizing nurses to provide support). Barriers/enablers to bereavement support included: Communication, access to support, time to discuss concerns, and knowledge/awareness of grief complications. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults require access to tailored support that addresses their experiences of repeated exposure to grief and loss. Primary care is a key conduit to specialist services but to make such referrals more training is needed on ageism and stigmas surrounding mental health. Arts-based methods can open a dialogue about grief and destigmatize help-seeking among older adults. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Clear documentation of grief in patients' medical records; Destigmatizing mental health support among older patients; and Training primary care staff on grief, age-, culture- and gender-specific needs, and available resources can overcome some of the identified barriers to bereavement support. Primary care providers can use consultations with older patients to enquire about potential recent bereavements and mental health support needs, going beyond the mere assessments of physical symptoms. Timely assessment and documentation of grief in older patients can facilitate appropriate referrals and access to support services; this is a key task for general practitioners, who are gatekeepers to the healthcare system.
PY - 2026
SN - 0731-7115
SP - 493
EP - 505+
ST - Primary Care Consultations for Grief in Older People - a Missed Opportunity for Mental Health Support
T1 - Primary Care Consultations for Grief in Older People - a Missed Opportunity for Mental Health Support
T2 - Clin Gerontol
TI - Primary Care Consultations for Grief in Older People - a Missed Opportunity for Mental Health Support
U1 - Healthcare Disparities
U3 - 10.1080/07317115.2024.2321341
VL - 49
VO - 0731-7115
Y1 - 2026
ER -