In 2023, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a little-known federal agency, was Congressionally directed during FY23 to establish an evidence base for what constitutes high-quality bereavement and grief care. As a result, AHRQ commissioned a systematic review, which was informed by an independent subject matter experts panel, to assess the feasibility of developing consensus-based quality standards for high-quality grief and bereavement care.
In June 2024, AHRQ, in partnership with the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), hosted the expert panel of academics, federal policy officials, and leaders from local and national non-profits in Rockville, Maryland. The panel discussed the draft systematic report (which was also available for public comment) reviewing interventions to improve the care of bereaved persons, including “evaluations of screening approaches, diagnostic accuracy studies, grief interventions, and treatment of grief disorder studies reporting on an intervention and concurrent control group or comparator intervention” (Executive Summary). Literature searches identified 8,301 articles, 3,497 of which were obtained as full text, but only 166 met the eligibility criteria to be considered in the report.
Feedback from the experts and public will be incorporated into a final report anticipated to be released in the Fall of 2024 (i.e., before ADEC 2025). In addition, SAMHSA is developing a website devoted to bereavement issues, among other outcomes.
In this panel presentation, members of the Expert Panel (Joanne Cacciatore, Arizona State University; Dale Larson, Santa Clara University; Joyal Mulheron, Evermore; and William Worden (Panel invitee unable to attend) will discuss these recent developments and their implications for bereavement care, including what they tell us about the current state of bereavement care, the best directions for the future of this care, and how ADEC’s members can contribute to these national efforts.
