O'Callaghan, Daniel and Lambert, Sharon (2024) The experience of drug-related client loss for healthcare professionals who support people in addiction. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 158, 209236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.josat.2023.209236.
External website: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/...
INTRODUCTION: Addiction support and recovery is a multi-faceted support context in which practitioners work with clients who present with increased mortality risks. Drug-related deaths are understood to be a risk factor for complicated grief-reactions but, to date, research has neglected to explore the intricacies of drug-related client loss for practitioners who work with clients experiencing addiction. Due to wider expectations of professional endurance and the demanding nature of health care, grief-related reactions associated with the loss of a client may go unprocessed and, therefore, result in long-term health implications.
METHOD: Fifteen health care professionals took part in individual semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Participants represented various disciplines in addiction support and recovery, including homelessness, inclusion health, addiction, and emergency medicine.
RESULTS: Three core themes emerged encapsulating the experience of drug-related bereavement for HCPs who support people experiencing addiction, as follows: (i) Grief Beneath the Surface, (ii) The Cost of Caring, and (iii) Finding Closure. The findings identified acute grief-related reactions in HCPs such as self-blame and shame, alongside fears of litigation and questions of clinical competency. Participants' accounts of drug-related client loss emphasized a deep professional connection with those that they work with, with grief-responses akin to the loss of peers, family members, and other close connections. The bereavement experience was complicated by unique compounding variables associated with drug-related deaths, but also by incongruity between their emotional responses to death and their professional responsibilities.
CONCLUSIONS: This article highlights the complex nature of drug-related client loss, and despite their social positioning as experts in their field, HCPs' reactions to client deaths were predominantly human responses to loss. The article identified a need for targeted postvention protocols that address complicated grief while also allowing staff to resume occupational functioning in a measured manner.
P Demography, epidemiology, and history > Population dynamics > Substance related mortality / death
T Demographic characteristics > Substance or health care worker / provider
T Demographic characteristics > Doctor / physician
T Demographic characteristics > Nurse / Midwife
T Demographic characteristics > Social worker
VA Geographic area > Europe > Ireland
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