Do Mental Health Professionals Recognize Dementia Grief?

Abstract: Dementia grief can be challenging to detect because it is often disenfranchised. This study examined whether mental health professionals detect or overlook dementia grief. An online survey presented health professionals with a case vignette regarding the caregivers of people with dementia (PwD). Based on random assignment, the participants read a case description of a PwD who was deceased or still alive. We analyzed the responses of 381 participants. Significant group differences for the variables grief attribution, loss attribution, expected self-disenfranchisement, grief support/grief group recommendation, and psychotherapeutic/psychiatric counsel recommendation resulted. Even though professionals in this sample had continued grief education, loss and grief attribution in nondeath event losses were significantly lower, confirming that dementia providers disenfranchise dementia grief.