Bereavement During COVID-19 in the UK: A Mixed-methods Study of the Experiences of Bereaved People and Bereavement Services, 2020-2022

Work Package One; A UK survey of people bereaved between 16th March 2020 and 2nd January 2021. Three time points: baseline (n=711), c. 7 months (n=384) and c. 13 months (n=297) post-bereavement. At baseline 88.6 % were female, 43.8% were bereaved by Covid-19, 55.6 % had lost parents, followed by partners (21.4%). 4.7% identified with a minority ethnic background. Validated measures assessed grief and coping response (Adult Attitude to Grief scale), social support (Inventory for Social Support), prolonged grief disorder (PGD) (Traumatic Grief Inventory) and wellbeing (ONS wellbeing measure). Work Package Two; Semi-structured interviews with sub-sample of survey participants, interviewed between May 2021 and February 2022. 24 participants completed a first interview and 15 completed a second interview around 4 months after their first interview. 19 were female, 10 had lost partners, 11 were bereaved by Covid-19, 6 identified with minority ethnic background. Work Package Three: Cross-sectional open online survey of UK voluntary sector bereavement services (March-May 2021) (n=147); Qualitative case study interviews with bereavement service providers at a purposive sample of services (14 services, 24 interviews).