These pages provide access to resources and literature relevant to the practice of palliative care for bereavement counsellors.

Role in palliative care

This information will help you to find out more about working in palliative care. It may include narratives from those working in the area, descriptions of the role, or why the position is important.

Palliative Care Victoria has produced a brochure Grief and Bereavement Counsellors that describes how a bereavement counsellor can help.

Palliative care education and training

There are different ways to develop your knowledge and skills in palliative care. Web based learning modules, short courses and specialist palliative care courses and training are offered in many organisations and universities. Further information can be found on the Education pages of CareSearch.

The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) is an initiative under the National Palliative Care Program. It is a supported multidisciplinary course with work placements, offered across the country. The PEPA project is funded until 2010.

The Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement has a range of bereavement training programs available throughout Australia

Research

Many health professions may be interested in looking at palliative care research questions in their area of specialty. This may be work that is planned for the future. Any palliative care professional regardless of discipline is able to access the CareSearch Research Data Management System (RDMS). For further information go to the Research resources section of the website.

Resources

• The Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement
• Principles for the provision of Bereavement Support by Palliative care services in Australia, Commonwealth of Australia. 1998
• The Bereavement Care Centre website (Mal and Dianne McKissock)

Books

• Aranda S, Milne D. Guidelines for the assessment of complicated bereavement risk in family members of people receiving palliative care. Melbourne: Centre for Palliative Care, 2000.
• Stroebe MS, Hansson RO, Stroebe W, Schut E. Handbook of bereavement research: Consequences, coping, and care. Washington, DC, American Psychological Association. 2001 Mar. pp814.

Palliative care links and information

Palliative Care Australia (PCA) is the peak national organisation representing the interests and aspirations of all who share the ideal of quality care at the end of life for all. Its members are the eight state and territory palliative care associations and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine. The membership of these associations includes palliative care service providers, clinicians, allied health professionals, academics, consumers and members of the general community.

PCA have produced several policy documents, including:

• Standards for providing quality palliative care for all Australians
• Palliative care service provision in Australia: a planning guide
• A guide to palliative care service development: A population based approach.

The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing has a palliative care section.

Free Full text Articles

• Currow DC, Allen K, Plummer J, Aoun S, Hegarty M, Abernethy AP. Bereavement help-seeking following an 'expected' death: a cross-sectional randomised face-to-face population survey. BMC Palliat Care. 2008 Dec 14;7:19.
• Christ GH, Christ AE. Current approaches to helping children cope with a parent's terminal illness. CA Cancer J Clin. 2006 Jul-Aug;56(4):197-212.
• Kristjanson J, Lobb E, Aoun S, Monterosso L. A systematic review of the literature on complicated grief. Perth: WA Centre for cancer and palliative care. 2006.
• Ribbens McCarthy J. Resilience and bereaved children: Developing complex approaches. Grief Matters. 2006 Summer;9(3):58-61.
• Dent A. Supporting the bereaved: theory and practice. Counselling at Work. 2005 Autumn;22-23.
• Jennings P. Should paediatric units have bereavement support posts? Arch Dis Child. 2002 Jul;87(1):40-2.
• Crawford G, Price S. Team working: palliative care as a model of interdisciplinary practice. Med J Aust. 2003 Sep 15;179(6 Suppl):S32-4.
• Street A, Blackford J. Communication issues for the interdisciplinary community palliative care team. J Clin Nurs. 2001 Sep;10(5):643-50.

Related CareSearch pages

• Bereavement and Grief (Clinical Practice pages)
• For patients and families (Bereavement, Grief and Loss)

Some of the following PubMed Topic Searches and Systematic Review Collections may be if interest

Finding Evidence

• PubMed Topic Searches
  • Bereavement and Grief
  • Prolonged grief
• CareSearch Review Collection
  • Bereavement
  • Grief and Loss

This page was created on 24 March 2008.
Last updated 22 September 2010