Abstract

MORAIS, Jaiana Cristina Cândido et al. “And I Couldn’t Give That Goodbye. . .”: Brazilians’ Experiences of Bereavement During COVID-19. Rev. Psicol. Saúde [online]. 2024, vol.16, e16332528.  Epub Feb 17, 2025. ISSN 2177-093X.  https://doi.org/10.20435/pssa.v16i1.2528.

During COVID-19, the experience of the mourning process for the death of a close person was drastically altered, compromising the elaboration of the loss. To uncover this reality, the aim was to describe the experiences of loss and grief faced by Brazilians during the pandemic. A qualitative study was conducted, involving 23 bereaved family members who lost someone significant to COVID-19. Participants responded to two instruments, which were textually analyzed using the IRaMuTeQ software, complemented by content analysis. The results were organized into four classes: 1) the moment of diagnosis: “Only she tested positive, no one else”, signaling the initial difficulties in diagnosis and the fear during this process; 2) the process of illness and hospitalization: “And then he got worse from one day to the next”, addressing the process of illness and isolation; 3) the moment of death and denial of death: “I didn’t think he was going to die”, emphasizing the moment of death and the denial of death by some family members; and 4) the grieving process and the impacts of the suppression of funeral rituals: “When he died, all the people disappeared”, portraying the grieving process and the impacts of the suppression of funeral rituals. Differences in evocations by family connection, time of mourning and religion were also identified. It is concluded that the omission of farewell funeral rituals may have an impact on the grieving process, thereby underscoring the necessity of developing interventions to mitigate adverse health outcomes.

Keywords : COVID-19; grief; losses; family members; IRaMuTeQ.

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