Table 3 Characteristics of included studies
Study | Country | Population | Study design | Aim | Key Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lakeman, 2011 [32] | Dublin, Ireland | Homeless sector workers who had experienced to the death of a service user (n = 16) | Qualitative Modified grounded theory, comparative analysis, theoretical sampling, interviews | Investigate workers’ responses to service user deaths | Coping with death depends on how it’s encountered, marking the death, and recognizing / responding to vulnerability |
Roche et al., 2013 [33] | Australia | Indigenous AOD and general health workers (n = 121) | Qualitative Focus groups, thematic analysis, purposeful sampling | Explore Indigenous worker well-being, stress, burnout | Main stressors are excessive workload, proximity to communities, loss/grief, lack of recognition, inadequate rewards, stigma/racism, and Indigenous working ways. |
Stajduhar et al., 2020 [10] | Victoria, B.C., Canada | Inner city workers (ICWs) (n = 16) and key informants (e.g., executive directors and managers in health and social services) (n = 15) | Qualitative Secondary thematic analysis of observational and interview data from larger critical ethnographic study | Explore ICWs’ experiences in providing care to dying clients, integrating a palliative approach, and improve access | Palliative care in inner city often provided by ICWs. Key themes: approaches, awareness, training, workplace policies, grief, bereavement, and supports. |
Kennedy et al., 2019 [20] | Vancouver, B.C., Canada | Peers working in Overdose Prevention Sites (OPS) (n = 72) | Qualitative 185 h observational fieldwork at OPS 72 in-depth qual interviews, thematic data analysis | Characterize peer involvement in OPS programming | OPS operations rely on peer involvement which improves engagement and promotes harm reduction. However, peers often face trauma, burnout, and grief. |
Kanno & Giddings, 2017 [30] | United States | Mental health professionals and trauma workers, social workers | Qualitative Review of literature worldwide from (1974– 2015) | Review traumatic stress and discuss prevention strategies | Understanding traumatic stress nature is critical. Traumatic stress can significantly impair workers and should be addressed with prevention and remediation strategies. |
Dutta et al., 2022 [34] | Northeast India | Miya community workers | Qualitative Storytelling, critical resilience praxis, decolonial theories | Name workers’ resistance efforts, suggest implications for decolonial liberatory praxis, and critique “inclusion” | Identified reclaiming theory, moving beyond “inclusion”, resisting commodification, and the centrality of community in resistance. |
Watson, 2016 [35] | United Kingdom | Outreach/peer support worker in mental health and recovery setting (n = 1) | Qualitative Reflective narrative approach | Describe a day in the life of a peer support worker in an NHS trust to reflect on recovery-focused practices and peer support | Reflection related to boundaries, grieving, and the experience of endings within peer support. |
Giesbrecht et al., 2023 [13] | Canada | Community worker action team (n = 18); Palliative care, social care, and housing support workers (n = 48) | Qualitative Community-based participatory action research, Focus groups (n = 5) evaluative interviews (n = 13), observational field notes (n = 34) | Explore workers’ experiences of grief, identify support strategies | Identified workers grieving as “de-facto” family, complex layers of compounded grief, fear of confronting grief. |
Tobin et al., 2020 [31] | Ireland | Traveller community health workers (n = 10) | Qualitative 3 semi structured group interviews, Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). | Explore grief experiences in Traveller community | Identified extensive, profound, and enduring loss; difficulties in coping with suicide deaths; silence and strategies for managing tragic deaths disclosure. |