The Grief Navigation Trial: A Multi-Site Pragmatic Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Interventions to Support Parents After Their Child's Unexpected or Traumatic Death

Summary

Parents of children who die traumatically or unexpectedly from things like suicide or an overdose suffer from mental and physical health problems and can experience massive disruptions in their family life. For about half of these parents, the first, and sometimes only, interactions they have with the healthcare system when their child dies are with a medical examiner or coroner (hereafter 'ME'). But MEs have little to no training in helping grieving families, and there are no standards guiding medical examiners or coroners on how or even if they should help grieving families. This gap leaves parents to find the help they need on their own. This research will test two different strategies for addressing this gap in the healthcare system.

Description

Eligibility

Age range

18+ years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Interventions

• Other
  CommunityRx-Bereavement

  The medical examiner or coroner will refer parents to an organization called Missing Pieces. Missing Pieces does not deliver healthcare services to grieving families; rather, Missing Pieces helps families find grief services in their community. For CRx-B, a Grief Navigator from Missing Pieces will text and/or call the parent after receiving the referral; share information about grief and support resources; learn what resources the parent needs for themselves and their family; send the parent a personalized list of grief and social support community resources called a HealtheRx via text, email, or mail; and plan future text message communications with bidirectional functionality and, if requested, subsequent calls or texts from the Grief Navigator to occur at least 3, 6, and 12 months after the child's death.

• Other
  General Bereavement Support Information

  The medical examiner or coroner will refer parents to an organization called Missing Pieces. Missing Pieces does not deliver healthcare services to grieving families; rather, Missing Pieces helps families find grief services in their community. For GBSI, Missing Pieces sends parents a unidirectional text message providing a link to a webpage with a general list of grief resources (e.g., support groups) and information about grief and bereavement within two weeks of the child's death and again 3, 6, and 12 months after the child's death.

Locations (7)