Browsing by Author "Leteta, Barbara Ann"

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    Engaging in the "How to Care, What to Say" Grief and Loss Workshop: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study
    (2018-04-20) Leteta, Barbara Ann; Raffin Bouchal, Shelley; Sinclair, Shane; Berg, Beverly
    The purpose of this study was to evaluate an Alberta Health Services grief education workshop offered to health care providers through the Grief Support Program titled, “How to Care, What to Say.” The goal of the workshop was to improve delivery of care for dying and deceased persons by providing holistic care to the family before, during, and after the death of a loved one. This was the only ongoing grief support workshop offered within the Calgary Zone to provide theory and practical information for health care providers caring for grieving patients and families at the end of life. Written evaluations of the grief workshop were reviewed and illuminated the need to understand how learning of grief theory and intervention occurred in practice. Therefore, a qualitative research study was conducted using Constructivist Grounded Theory to interview past participants of “How to Care, What to Say” workshop and who cared for grieving individuals/families. Individual interviews and a focus group revealed how participants perceived the learnings from the workshop and transferred their knowledge from the workshop to practice. Data analysis uncovered themes which led to the overarching theory for implementation of the workshop into practice: A relational process of understanding knowledge, self-awareness, advancing grief competencies, and moral responsibilities of providing holistic grief support. Research findings included the usefulness and meaningfulness of the grief program, effective teaching and learning processes, a need for increased application based exercises, and ideas for development of advanced grief workshops to improve health care providers’ comfort and competence to provide grief support.