Caring for Grievers: A Scoping Review of Bereavement Practice Approaches and Support Strategies

Bereavement support is a foundational element of palliative care social work, yet practice approaches and support strategies remain varied. This scoping review was initiated in response to a Canadian children’s hospice’s interest in expanding its bereavement services. The aim was to identify and critically reflect on assessment strategies and professional approaches used with bereaved children, youth, and adults, and to consider how these align, or diverge, from the values and practices of palliative care social work. A review of evidence syntheses published between 2015 and September 2024 was conducted across four databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. Seventy-one articles met inclusion criteria, identifying over 400 distinct assessment tools and a wide range of support approaches. This review also highlighted gaps in the literature, such as methodological limitations (risk of bias, lack of control groups, limited follow-up), conceptual ambiguity, and challenges in applying evidence to practice. Viewed through a palliative care social work lens, the findings underscore the need to understand grief as a uniquely human experience requiring systems of support. Expanding bereavement care involves individual service delivery in addition to building cohesive programming and integrated systems that acknowledge and support grief across contexts.