Literature Review

Hospice of Midland expands adult care programs and adds children's grief support Midland Reporter-Telegram; by Kessly Salinas; 7/13/26 Hospice of Midland announced it will expand its services this summer by growing two adult programs and introducing a program for children. “In response to community needs, we are enlarging two adult programs and introducing one for children,” said Deborah Goodman, CEO of Hospice of Midland. “The Pathways Palliative Care program, which supports patients with advanced illnesses, will be expanded,” Goodman said. ... The new program will be the Children’s Grief Center’s Holding Hope program. “Rays of Hope Children’s Grief Center has been here in Midland, serving the Permian Basin for 22 years,” Goodman said. “We’ve noticed, especially since COVID, a pretty substantial increase in deaths by suicide in younger individuals, especially the teen and young adult ages.” The Holding Hope program was designed for children and families affected by death by suicide.

Carolina Caring Community Counseling Program expands services to anyone who has experienced loss Carolina Caring, Newton, NC; Press Release; 7/1/26 For many individuals, addressing the mental health concerns tied to grief and loss can feel overwhelming, complicated, or out of reach. Recognizing the profound impact that loss can have on one’s wellbeing, Carolina Caring has expanded a Community Counseling Program to support individuals who have experienced a major loss of any kind. ... Traditionally, organizations like Carolina Caring provide bereavement services to families of hospice patients for up to 13 months. But the Community Counseling Program is different from this traditional model. Through the expansion, the Community Counseling Program redefines what it means to provide compassionate care to the whole person, both physically and emotionally.

At Hospice Austin’s summer camp, kids find joy together after experiencing loss KUT 90.5, Austin, TX; by Olivia Aldridge; 6/29/26 On a Friday in mid-June, middle school-aged kids lined up for their shot at a summer camp rite of passage: the infamous high ropes course at John Knox Ranch in Fischer, Texas. The ranch hosts Camp Brave Heart, Hospice Austin’s annual camp for kids and teens who have experienced loss. 13-year-old Alisa bravely stepped up to the challenge first. Soon enough, she was strapped into a harness, inching along ropes strung 30 feet in the air. “You are rocking this!” the counselor belaying her from the ground yelled as Alisa neared the end of the course. “Take a second — you want to look at the view?”

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. ...

Minster Baseball Hospice Night raises record $8,000 for Grand Lake Hospice Mercer County Outlook, Minster, OH; by Mercer County Outlook Staff; 5/30/26 The Minster Wildcats baseball program once again brought the community together for a meaningful cause during its annual “Minster Baseball Hospice Night,” raising a record $8,000 this year to benefit Grand Lake Hospice. ... In addition to fundraising, Hospice Night serves as a time of remembrance and recognition for local families who have been touched by hospice care. The Minster baseball program continues to honor those individuals, reinforcing the personal connections that make the event so impactful. 

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."