ABSTRACT
This chapter provides guidelines, based on the best available evidence, to assist in the identification of people at risk of adverse bereavement outcomes. It discusses the place of the health professional's own bereavement history, notes the importance of grief education and understanding the person and family, and provides examples of different types of general bereavement support. The chapter presents the guidelines for bereavement risk assessment in family members based on three important assumptions: the timing and people involved in risk assessment; the concept of 'complicated bereavement'; and the importance of targeting bereavement interventions. Complicated bereavement risk assessment involves four key categories of information—the illness, terminal care, and the nature of the death; characteristics of the bereaved; interpersonal relationships; and characteristics of the deceased. Bereavement care, in the form of risk assessment, begins before the death, continues through the illness, and persists into the early bereavement phase.
