INTRODUCTION

You’re a team of hospice nurses who work for a comprehensive hospice program. You are making a bereavement visit to Mrs. B, an older adult who was the primary caregiver for her 86 year old husband who was a hospice patient for 3 months before he died two weeks ago.

Mr. and Mrs. B. had been married for 60 years and immigrated to the United States from China one year ago in order to live near their only son and his family. Mrs. B. speaks and understands very little English. Mrs. B. is weeping continually throughout your visit and seems to be communicating that she is unable to sleep, has no interest in eating and can’t get the images of her husband who had uncontrollable pain in his last days out of her mind. Her son tells you that she says she feels all alone and lost and wonders if these feelings are normal or if she is “going crazy”. She is also questioning whether she “did the right thing” by keeping him home and not hospitalizing him during the last weeks of his life.

How will you respond? What are some interventions you can suggest to help Mrs. B. through the bereavement process?