Literature Review

Grief experiences among LGBTQ+ populations: a scoping review BMC Palliative Care; by Tamara Rodríguez Pérez, Cristo Manuel Marrero González, Alfonso Miguel García Hernández; 6/23/26 Objective: To explore research published between 2021 and 2026 on grief and bereavement-related experiences among LGBTQ+ adults in healthcare and palliative care settings, identifying the main topics addressed and knowledge gaps relevant to clinical practice. Results: ... Four main themes were identified: minority stress, complexities of disclosure, disenfranchised grief, and gaps in professional training. Critical gaps included underrepresentation of transgender people, a scarcity of quantitative data, an absence of intersectional perspectives, and concentration in Western contexts.

I was my mother's caregiver until her death. Four years later, I'm still struggling with the $17,000 medical debt. yahoo!finance; by Julie Peck; 6/20/26 My mom got sick, then gradually, and then all at once. In 2014, she survived a subarachnoid aneurysm that ruptured while she was driving on the West Virginia Turnpike. After stabilizing, she spent six months recovering with me in South Carolina before heading back to her townhouse in my hometown of Charleston, West Virginia. Unfortunately, her return was short-lived. Mom had a small stroke a year later, followed by a second, more serious stroke in 2016. The doctors told her it was no longer safe to live alone.

When grief shows up at work. Inside America's heartbreaking crisis

Hospice care takes a community: Lynn Mock Cleveland.com, Cleveland, OH; by guest columnist Lynn Mock, chief strategy officer for Reserve Care; 6/14/26 ... Across Northern Ohio, families face some of life’s most difficult moments when a loved one is living with serious illness. In those moments, medical expertise matters. But so does something less clinical, but just as essential: human presence. Hospice brings both. ... This support allows patients to focus on what matters most in the time they have. But hospice does not stand alone in that work. It is strengthened by the community around it. ... Community support also makes grief care possible.

Humanistically Universalizing Grief (HUG): advisory guidelines for national hospice bereavement programs standards within the United States OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying; by Jared R. Garcia1, Lynn M. Raine, Larry Ortiz, and Mary Akstin; 6/12/26... This quantitative study gathered data through online surveys from bereavement coordinators in California. By aligning these findings with standards from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization standards, the Humanistically Universalizing Grief (HUG) model was developed, which provides core principles and advisory guidelines for hospice bereavement care. The HUG model offers a structured yet adaptable framework to improve program consistency, accessibility, and equity, ensuring bereavement care is comprehensive, sustainable, and responsive to the diverse needs of grieving individuals.

Black grief, Black healing: Exploring African American parents grief with cultural implications for treatmentFamily Process; by Nyla Rogers, Shareefah Al'Uqdah, Denzell Brown, Briayanna Johnson; 6/26African American parents experience child loss at disproportionately high rates, yet family systems and grief literature have largely overlooked this population's grief experience. This paper examines how therapists can provide culturally responsive care to African American parents navigating the death of a child. Drawing on existing literature, this paper expounds on the historical trends within the African American family system while delineating unique African American grief practices. Practical and culturally relevant clinical practices such as facilitating robust social support networks, creating structured opportunities for public and communal mourning, and therapeutically addressing the intensity of grief-related emotional responses are provided. Family therapists are called to expand their grief frameworks and family interventions beyond individualized, Western-centric models to encompass the collective, justice-oriented dimensions of loss that shape the lived experiences of African American families.

MSU student finds purpose after losing her father Blue Water Healthy Living, Port Huron, MI; by Times Record News; 5/30/26 There are many things on the minds of graduating students — finishing requirements, booking reservations and purchasing a cap and gown. For Cristin Martin, however, graduation represents something more: honoring her father. When Martin first enrolled at Midwestern State University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in women’s studies, her father was her biggest supporter. A Navy veteran, he had used his government benefits to earn an associate degree in nursing and spent 25 years as a registered nurse. ...

Tree of Life supporting hospice patients set up at YMCA Beatrice Daily Sun, Beatrice, NE; by Christina Lyons; 5/28/26The Cottonwood Hospice Charitable Foundation Tree of Life was set up on Wednesday morning at the YMCA in Beatrice. The tree is to honor the memory of those individuals who have been touched by local hospice services. Each leaf on the tree signifies a donation made to the foundation in memory of a loved one. The foundation uses the funds from the leaves to provide support to hospice patients. ... In addition to the tree, there are fliers and information for Cottonwood Hospice and the foundation in the lobby of the YMCA.

From loss to calling: Nursing students’ experiences of family terminal illness and death in the formation of professional identity and humanistic care Death Studies; by Laurie Glick and Adi Finkelstein; 5/10/26 ... This qualitative study examined nursing graduates who experienced the terminal illness and death of a close family member, providing them with early exposure to clinical settings and shaping their emotional insight and sensitivity to the psychosocial dimensions of end-of-life care. Their experiences often deepened their desire to enter the nursing profession and deliver compassionate, humanistic, family-centered care as clinical practitioners. 

Development of the revised CAHPS Hospice Survey Journal of Pain and Symptom Management; by Danielle Schlang, MA, Melissa A. Bradley, BA, and Rebecca Anhang Price, PhD; 5/18/26 ... Methods: We conducted a plain language review and environmental scan, refined existing survey instrument wording, drafted candidate survey items addressing new topics of interest, and conducted 7 rounds of cognitive interviews with a total of 59 family caregivers of hospice decedents. Results: Cognitive interview respondents consistently interpreted “respecting [the patient’s] wishes,” and “listening to the things that matter most” and found these concepts relevant to their family members’ hospice care experiences; in contrast, they found the phrases “cultural practices” and “choosing what to do next” confusing or unclear. ... Conclusion:  The revised CAHPS Hospice Survey simultaneously adds new topics prioritized by stakeholders and reduces survey complexity and length. Editor's Note: This journal article includes a downloadable "Journal Pre-proof" PDF. Its Appendix B (at pp. 27-33) provides a helpful table, "Comparison between Original and Revised CAHPS Hospice Survey Items, with Rationale."

Butterfly Garden of Remembrance 2026 YubaNet.com, Nevada County, CA; by Foothills Compassionate Care; 5/15/26 Driving along the freeway between Grass Valley and Nevada City, passengers might notice three large butterfly statues in the nearby distance. The statues mark the annual Butterfly Garden of Remembrance, hosted by Foothills Compassionate Care [formerly known as Hospice of the Foothills]. ... In a community where neighbors care deeply for one another, few traditions capture that spirit more beautifully.  For more than 25 years, the Butterfly Garden has offered a sacred space for grief, healing and remembrance.

Clinician grief is a hidden crisis in modern hospice care MedPage Today's KevinMD.com; by Linda Ellington, RN; 5/12/26 I stood knocking at the door of my hospice patient like I did every Monday for the past eight months. A musically talented man in his early 40s was always waiting for my weekly nursing visit, more so for the aspect of socialization. He was diagnosed with colon cancer two years prior and had a colostomy bag, leaving this once vibrant, social, even handsome man a shell of what he once was. He became introverted and allowed only one friend to check on him occasionally. He had no family and only one estranged child who lived in another country. There was no answer at the door ...

My mother left me a garage full of mysterious ingredients—and so much more Vogue; by John Mok; 5/6/26 Late in the summer of 2024, my mother was moved into hospice after a brief hospitalization. ... I promptly returned home to Los Angeles from New York and steeled myself for her passing. The trip lasted five months. ... Over the years, I had tried to meet her in the kitchen, to learn through her homestyle dishes, to unlock some part of her Chinese heritage, even with her American adaptations. But there was never enough time. During those five months we did get a little more time—one more round of holidays and one more memorable moment, when she passed peacefully passed. ... What my mother left behind was an invitation. Our garage remains an apothecary of TCM, dried herbs, and dried seafood—all stored in repurposed mayonnaise jars and Costco biscotti containers, their labels scribbled over with her Chinese script. ...