A statewide model for integrated grief and bereavement support

Abstract Aim Globally, grief support faces implementation challenges. This paper reports on the culmination of a project which aimed to consultatively develop an operationalisable and economically feasible model to guide the implementation, coordination and management of statewide bereavement supports in South Australia. Subject and methods The model development process integrated themed data from previous project data collection activities, including an environmental scan, survey, interviews and rapid review of the literature. The draft model was presented to stakeholders at a validation workshop. Feedback was collected, analysed and synthesised to capture stakeholder perspectives, and used to inform the revision and finalisation of the model. Results The integrated project findings resulted in a statewide bereavement support model with five categories: information and navigation support, access pathways, partnerships and linkages, grief education and policy recommendations. Thirty-two components describe the vision for implementation of the model across these categories. Conclusion The proposed Statewide Model for Integrated Grief and Bereavement Support provides a collaborative framework, leveraging community resources to create an equitable, evidence-based system for addressing population grief and bereavement needs with coordinated care and navigation. The model outlines key categories and components for delivering comprehensive, evidence-based grief and bereavement support. As far as we are aware, the resultant Statewide Model is the first grief and bereavement support model of its type, and it has demonstrated theoretical validity and economic feasibility.