‘Saying goodbye’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: A document analysis of online newspapers with implications for end of life care

SAGE Palliative Medicine & Chronic Care

This episode features Dr Lucy Selman (Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK). During COVID-19, infection control measures have prevented many family members from being with seriously ill or dying loved ones, and impacted on after-death mourning practices and bereavement. Clinicians and funeral officiants have tried to mitigate the impact of infection control measures, for example, using video-technology; however, this has not been done consistently and its acceptability is unknown. The news media play an important role in creating a sense-making narrative, reflecting and enforcing cultural ideas and shaping experiences of illness and bereavement. Online UK newspapers focused on how COVID-19 disrupted ‘saying goodbye’ (prior to death, at the moment of death and after death) and conflicted with cultural understandings of a ‘good death’ and ‘good grief’, despite efforts undertaken to mitigate the effects of restrictions. Findings demonstrate a prevailing uncertainty, fear and anxiety regarding: changes to practice; control over access to people who have been hospitalised; the possibility of dying alone or having loved ones die alone; and being unable to properly commemorate a death. Articles focused on what was forbidden rather than permitted and offered little practical guidance for the public. Understanding the media representations and cultural narratives around a ‘good death’ and ‘good grief’ that influence patients’ and families’ fears and anxieties can help inform person-centred care and bereavement support. Clinicians should explore with families ways of finding meaningful connection and of saying goodbye despite restrictions, and, alongside other bereavement support providers and hospital press officers, should offer alternatives to exaggerated or inaccurate media narratives. More could be done in media reporting to portray diverse experiences and offer practical advice to members of the public dealing with serious illness and bereavement during the pandemic.