FAMILY GRIEF THERAPY - A PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT OF A NEW MODEL TO PROMOTE HEALTHY FAMILY FUNCTIONING DURING PALLIATIVE CARE AND BEREAVEMENT

The family is usually the primary provider of care for the terminally ill patient with cancer or other serious progressive illness. The way in which such a family functions is a major determinant of psychologic al well-being for its members. Through screening with the Family Relat ionships Index (FRI) (Moos and Moos. 1981), dysfunctional families and those at risk can be identified, and then helped to achieve better fa mily functioning, thus improving psychosocial outcome of their grief. In this paper, we describe the techniques and themes involved in the a pplication of our empirically developed model of family grief therapy, designed as a preventive intervention for use in the setting of palli ative care and bereavement. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.