Death, Grief and Loss in the Context of COVID-19

301 Pages·2021·6.262 MB·English

by  Panagiotis Pentaris

Routledge Advances in Health and Social Policy
DEATH, GRIEF AND LOSS IN
THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19
Edited by
Panagiotis Pentaris
Death, Grief and Loss in the Context
of COVID-19
This book provides detailed analysis of the manifold ways in which COVID-19
has influenced death, dying and bereavement.
Through three parts: Reconsidering Death and Grief in Covid-19; Institut-
ional Care and Covid-19; and the Impact of COVID-19 in Context, the book
explores COVID-19 as a reminder of our own and our communities’ fragile
existence, but also the driving force for discovering new ways of meaning-
making, performing rites and rituals, and conceptualising death, grief and life.
Contributors include scholars, researchers, policymakers and practitioners,
accumulating in a multi-disciplinary, diverse and international set of ideas and
perspectives that will help the reader examine closely how Covid-19 has invaded
social life and (re)shaped trauma and loss.
It will be of interest to all scholars and students of death studies, biomedicine,
and end of life care as well as those working in sociology, social work, medicine,
social policy, cultural studies, anthropology, psychology, counselling and nursing
more broadly.
Panagiotis Pentaris is an Associate Professor of Social Work and Thanatology
in the School of Human Sciences at the University of Greenwich, London,
England, UK, where he is also a member of the Institute for Lifecourse
Development, an internationally recognised Institute focusing on inter-
disciplinary research across the lifespan. Pentaris is a council member for the
Association for the Study of Death and Society, and over the last ten years he
has researched and published on death, dying, bereavement, culture and
religion, social work, social policy and LGBTQIA+ issues.
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For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Advances-in-Health-and-Social-Policy/book-series/RAHSP
Death, Grief and Loss in
the Context of COVID-19
Edited by Panagiotis Pentaris
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Panagiotis Pentaris; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Panagiotis Pentaris to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pentaris, Panagiotis, editor.
Title: Death, grief and loss in the context of COVID-19 / edited by
Panagiotis Pentaris.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Routledge advances in health and social policy |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021005383 (print) | LCCN 2021005384 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Death. | Loss (Psychology) | Grief. | COVID-19
(Disease)--Psychological aspects.
Classification: LCC HQ1073 .D425 2021 (print) | LCC HQ1073
(ebook) | DDC 155.9/37--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005383
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021005384
ISBN: 978-0-367-64732-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-64739-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-12599-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
In memory of Maria Yerosimou
Your smile, grace, love and kindness are kept in my heart.
You shan’t be forgotten.

Contents
List of Figures xiii
List of Tables xiv
List of Contributors xv
Acknowledgements xxii
List of Abbreviations xxiii
Introduction: capturing the beginning of a long journey
of loss, trauma and grief 1
PANAGIOTIS PENTARIS
Referring to SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 5
Part I: Reconsidering death and grief in Covid-19 6
Part II: Institutional care and Covid-19 8
Part III: Impact of Covid-19 in context 10
References 12
PART I
Reconsidering death and grief in Covid-19 15
1 Familiarity with death 17
PANAGIOTIS PENTARIS AND KATE WOODTHORPE
Introduction 17
The pre-Covid-19 visibility of death 18
The visibility of death in the face of the pandemic 20
Inequalities 22
A politicisation of death 23
Conclusion 24
Notes 24
References 24
viii Contents
2 Grief in the COVID-19 pandemic 29
KENNETH J. DOKA
Introduction 29
COVID-19 in context 30
Populations at risk for grief in the pandemic 31
Coping with grief 34
Interventive approaches 36
Conclusion 38
References 38
3 Apocalypse now: COVID-19 and the crisis of meaning 40
ROBERT A. NEIMEYER, EVGENIA MILMAN, AND
SHERMAN A. LEE
Anxiety in the context of COVID-19 41
Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) 42
Grief in the time of corona 44
Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) 46
From screening to meaning: prescriptions for practice 51
Coda 54
References 54
4 Physically distant but socially connected: streaming
funerals, memorials and ritual design during COVID-19 60
STACEY PITSILLIDES AND JAYNE WALLACE
Make do and mending: the technologies and memorials of
COVID-19 60
Funeral directors’ creative uses of communication technologies
and presence 64
What could technology do? 67
Conclusion: design directions for COVID-19 70
Notes 71
References 71
5 Social death in 2020: Covid-19, which lives matter and which
deaths count? 77
JANA KRÁLOVÁ
Introduction 78
‘Archaeology’ of social death: three schools of thought 80
The exceptions 84
Contents ix
Covid-19: which lives matter and which deaths count? 88
Concluding remarks 92
References 93
PART II
Institutional care and Covid-19 99
6 End-of-life decision-making in the context of a pandemic 101
NATALIE PATTISON AND LUCY RYAN
End-of-life decisions – a global rationing context 101
Rationing resources: a necessary evil during COVID-19? 102
Factors that influence health care decisions at the end of life:
application to COVID-19 105
Decision-making principles in COVID-19 107
Decision aides and shared decision-making 110
Advanced Care Planning in a pandemic 111
Achieving best practice principles 113
References 114
7 NHS values, ritual, religion, and Covid19 death 121
DOUGLAS DAVIES
Worldview, ideas-identity-destiny 121
Conclusion 132
References 132
8 Non-COVID-19 related dying and death during the pandemic 134
WAI YEE CHEE, SAMUEL S.Y. WANG, WINNIE Z.Y. TEO,
MELISSA FONG, ANDY LEE, AND WOON CHAI YONG
Case 1 The effects of COVID-19 on a non-COVID-19 related,
hospitalised palliative patient during the pandemic:
dying, death and grieving in a foreign land 135
Discussion 136
Case 2 The effects of COVID-19 on the care plans of a
non-COVID home palliative patient during the pandemic:
overtreatment, ethical concerns and funerary
constraints 139
Discussion 140
Grieving other non-COVID-19 related deaths during the
pandemic 142