Bereavement is a challenging area for everyone, including health and social care practitioners who are often well placed to offer help and support to the bereaved. This invaluable text draws together a comprehensive evidence-base for supporting grieving people from a wide range of research, and applies it to a health and social care context. Accessible and practical throughout, each chapter identifies key recommendations from the research and includes thinking points to help the reader apply them to practice. There is an overview chapter that examines theoretical perspectives and defines key concepts, such as grief, loss, bereavement, mourning and bereavement care. Part one explores bereavement across the lifespan, from childhood to older people. Part two looks at different interventions and care settings. “Grief, Loss and Bereavement Care” is suitable for students and professionals in health and social care who want to gain an understanding of bereavement and bereavement care.

‘Wow! What a book! This is a gem for all health and social care professionals with any involvement in bereavement support work. Peter Wimpenny and John Costello have brought together an impressive team of authors who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and they share their knowledge in clearly and concisely written chapters, which are often a joy to read. This book is intended to introduce readers to aspects of bereavement which are grouped in three sections: bereavement experiences across the life span, bereavement support requirements in specific working environments and finally two chapters dealing with organisational and educational aspects. The chapters are well structured and reference lists allow keen students to follow up their favourite topics. I particularly recommend the chapters on children’s deaths and perinatal loss. I am sure that this book will become a well used and wise companion to all those who support people dealing with the challenges of bereavement.’ — Professor Sheila Payne, Lancaster University, UK