Research project Mental health consequences following the loss of a family member during the Corona pandemic
What are the associations between the death of a family member during the COVID-19 pandemic and the risk of in- and out-patient psychiatric care, use of psychotropic medication, mental health related sick-leave, and attempted and completed suicides among bereaved family members?
There is an urgent need for research on the collateral health effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bereavement, as the consequence of massive deaths in a pandemic, can have severe social, psychosocial, and health consequences across all age groups. Moreover, the pandemic also inflicted unique challenges on bereaved people, with the unequal burden of COVID-19 bereavement disproportionately affecting groups of disadvantaged backgrounds, e.g. migrants. Therefore, a thorough evaluation of the adverse outcomes and experiences related to bereavement during the pandemic is vital and immediately necessary for designing policies and interventions to support bereaved families.
The project will provide important knowledge about the pandemic's unintended consequences and related restrictions that were widely practised in many areas of the world.
Project description
Approximately 120,000-180,000 Swedes lost a family member due to C OVID-19. Moreover, about ten times more individuals lost a family member to other causes during the pandemic. With pandemic restrictions, bereavement during the pandemic could be particularly challenging, thereby amplifying its adverse mental health consequences. The mental health consequences and related sick leave following bereavement during the pandemic and the pandemic-specific circumstances and experiences contributing to these adverse outcomes remain unclear.
We will use mixed methods combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. In quantitative analyses, we aim to evaluate the impact of bereavement on mental health using longitudinal data from Swedish nationwide total-population social and health registers. We will compare bereavement during the pandemic to before the pandemic, in different phases of the pandemic, bereavement due to C OVID-19 to other causes of death, and in different population groups. Meanwhile, we will use qualitative interviews to explore further and identify the pandemic-related circumstances and experiences of people bereaved during the pandemic that may have contributed to adverse mental health outcomes.
The project will provide up-to-date information on bereavement's health and social consequences. It will generate human-centred policy-relevant knowledge, which can reduce the negative impacts of bereavement in the pandemic and guide policy actions in future health crises.
Project members
Project managers
Mikael Rostila
Professor
Members
Lisa Berg
Senior Lecturer/docent
Rakel Eklund
Researcher
Alessandra Grotta
Researcher
Ayako Hiyoshi
Guest Researcher
Josefin Sveen
Associate professor