A experiência de luto em tempos de pandemia COVID-19

Abstract

Although it is a normative and necessary process, grief is an extremely painful and disturbing experience that deeply mobilises the human being, since it breaks the affective bonds that are built under human attachment. Although a large part of the population is able to experience a normative grieving process, on the other hand, there is another group of individuals who experience a pathological grief. Thus, and according to the unusual situation in which we find ourselves - the COVID-19 pandemic - it isurgent to pay special attention to the bereaved since the very context and situation to which they were subjected may trigger a substantial increase in the number of cases of pathogenic mourning. In this context, the main objective of this mixed-methodology research study was to assess and understand whether the experience of loss of a significant person, considering what is intrinsic to a mourning process, simultaneously with the a typical circumstance in which it takes place (COVID- 19 pandemic) is the same or different from what the literature pointed out until then. For this purpose, this study was carried out with 14 participants (6 males and 8 females) aged between 19 and69 years of age. The Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Semi-structured Individual Interview and the Prolonged Mourning Assessment Tool (PG-13) were used. Based on these, it was possible to verify that the grieving process in this context is different from the one that the literature had pointed out up until then. In other words, this study found that: the situations and changes that precede death, as well as the meaning that each subject attributes to the events influence the trajectory of the grieving process (regardless of the context where it occurs - pandemic or not); and that subjects are showing normal reactions and responses, within an abnormal situation (pandemic situation). Furthermore, and from a quantitative approach, no statistically significant relationships were found between: the bereaved person's gender, the reason for the loss(COVID-19 or other cause) and the degree of kinship ties with the search for psychological/psychiatric support after the experience of loss; and, the reason for the loss with the feelings of separation anxiety, the duration of these symptoms and the loss of functional capacity, social, occupational areas and in other domains. In turn, a relationship was found between the reason for death and cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms - being the bereaved group to whom the loved one died byCOVID-19 the one that presented higher values in this dimension.

Date of Award	6 Mar 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Armanda Gonçalves (Supervisor)