APPENDIX A

Letter to
Researchers &
Psychology
Departments

Appendix A
24th June, 2005

Dear Sir/Madam,

The Western Australian Centre for Cancer & Palliative Care has been invited by the
Commonwealth of Australias Department of Health and Ageing to undertake a
systematic review of the literature on complicated grief. Dr. Elizabeth Lobb and I are
leading the team.
The review will involve a systematic search of specialist databases and grey literature
(such as conferences abstracts/proceedings, government documents and other
literature outside of the main journal literature). These databases will encompass
quantitative and qualitative studies, theses and dissertations and relevant books and
chapters.
In an effort to be as up-to-date and comprehensive as possible, we are contacting
leading researchers in the field in the UK, Canada and in the USA to ask them to
contribute information about on-going studies or studies in press for inclusion in
the review.

The overall goal of this systematic review is to inform future planning and work in
complicated grief following bereavement within the National Palliative Care Strategy
and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. The review will also consider the
research questions in relation to death in a palliative care context, children and
adolescents, suicide, and traumatic and unexpected death. The specific objectives will
be to:

x Identify definitions of uncomplicated and/or non-traumatic grief versus

complicated grief and its effects on the individual and the community
(psychological, physical and social);
x Determine how those at risk of complicated grief following bereavement might
be identified, including whether appropriate and validated screening and/or
assessment tools exist, and whether the risk of complicated bereavement is
different for those where the death is expected versus unexpected;
x Give consideration to the pathways and relationships between assessment,
intervention and outcomes for people identified with complicated grief;
x Examine interventions and the evaluations of those interventions that currently
exist including the client outcomes they identify; and
x Identify the best available evidence to guide bereavement support for special
populations (eg, children, adolescents, Indigenous, individuals from non-dominant
cultural groups)
x Explore gaps in any of the above areas and make recommendations for possible
future research areas

Appendix A
We would be pleased to hear from you if you have any on-going studies, or studies
currently in press that could be included in this review.

Please contact Dr. Elizabeth Lobb at e.lobb@ecu.edu.au or at the Western Australian

Centre for Cancer & Palliative Care, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Post Graduate
Medicine, Edith Cowan University, Pearson Street, Churchlands, 6018, Western
Australia by September 2005.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Linda Kristjanson Dr. Elizabeth Lobb

Cancer Council WA Chair of Palliative Care NH&MRC Post Doctoral Research
Fellow
Associate Dean, Research & Higher Degrees Bereavement Counsellor
WA Centre for Cancer and Palliative Care WA Centre for Cancer and Palliative
Care

Appendix A