Bereavement in Higher Education Institutes

Very little is known about the bereavement experiences of staff in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), despite bereavement being a common experience and one that can impact both one’s wellbeing and work performance. Members of Open Thanatology (Erica Borgstrom, Claire A Harris, Kerry Jones and Sharon Mallon) have surveyed staff across universities, open to all levels and roles, to find out more about staff knowledge of their institutions’ policies and their own bereavement experiences. This is part of a larger body of work that Dr Borgstrom is leading to improve bereavement experience in higher education institutes focusing on policy, training, and compassionate, supportive environments.

DAPPLE: Developing effective service models for Adult Palliative and end of life care for People with a Learning disability

As part of the DAPPLE project, Several members of Open Thanatology are collaborating with other universities and partners to find the best ways to make sure that people with a learning disability get the right care and support at the end of their lives. The project is funded by the NIHR (National Institute of Health Research).

Evaluating Innovative End of Life Doula Provision

A team of researchers (Erica Borgstrom, Kirsten Bashir, Catherine Pestano, and Esther Ramsey-Jones) are working with End of Life Doula UK to evaluate their service provision in the Leeds area following an innovative commissioning arrangement between the organisation and the NHS. As part of the project, the team have developed a survey to measure impact of doula support and a case study vignette template to capture a rich picture of who the doulas are supporting and the kinds of support they offer. The project is HEIF KTV (Knowledge Transfer Voucher) funded enabling knowledge exchange between the organisation and the university.

Existential Dis/Connections

Existential Dis/Connections seeks to act as a decolonising hub to connect up work on the key existential human challenges of mortality, loss and change which are so relevant to the Climate and Ecological Emergency but are currently being considered in different social and organisational spaces, and largely dominated by affluent Anglophone and Eurocentric perspectives. You can read more about the existential challenges of human mortality in these times of the climate and ecological emergency in this blog by Dr Jane McCarthy.

Exploring potential bereavement interventions with infant bereaved mothers in hard to reach communities

Dr Becky Garcia and Dr Sam Murphy are exploring potential bereavement interventions with infant bereaved mothers in hard to reach communities in Leicester and Luton.

Forms of care

Forms of Care is a project about the differing medical logics that are adopted during end of life and palliative care. In particular, the research will focus on ‘not doing’ as an active and often deliberate aspect of care. (http://blogs.lshtm.ac.uk/formsofcare)

InGaP: Practices, issues and possibilities at the interface between Geriatrics and Palliative Care in the last year of life: an exploratory study

This is a scoping study by Professor Richard Holti and Dr Erica Borgstrom to understand how geriatric medicine and palliative care services work together in one hospital trust for patients on an Older Persons Unit ward who may be in their last year of life.

Men and loss

Kerry Jones (with Martin Robb) has undertaken a scoping review of men and loss following perinatal death. They are currently planning a bid (with Sam Murphy) to interview men and analyse about their experiences.

Realising the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care

The Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: a national framework for local action (2021-2026) provides guidance on how to improve palliative and end of life care and it is incorporated into the statutory guidance for Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). A team (Erica Borgstrom, Claire Henry MBE, Joanne Jordan, and Una St Ledger) have conducted two projects examining how people understand and use the Ambitions. They have produced several reports and resources to support people who want to realise the Ambitions. The research was funded by NHS England/NHS Improvement and Marie Curie.

Visit the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care website

To Know Dying: Identifying research areas in palliative and end of life care for the social sciences and humanities

Led by Prof Borgstrom at The Open University, this Marie Curie-funded project used data from a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership survey on palliative and end of life care to identify how social science and humanities perspectives can address public and professional concerns. The project identified five areas and produced a report to guide researchers and funders in future project development and decision-making.