Health care professionals' grief: A model based on occupational style and coping

Many publications address grief in terminally ill patients and their loved ones. In contrast, this paper proposes a hypothetical model For grief react ions in health care professionals (HCPs) working with terminally ill patien ts. The model integrates three literatures: burnout, coping and personality /occupational interests. Grief-related job stress can culminate in burnout that affects over 50% of physicians treating the terminally and critically ill. Coping behaviors that attenuate burnout differ among HCPs, suggesting that nurses prefer different coping strategies when compared with physician s. The personality and occupational interests literatures provide a rationa le For coping differences in HCPs. Personality characteristics associated w ith occupational preferences provide insight into HCPs' natural propensitie s for coping with stress. The model addresses personality/occupational diff erences among health care disciplines, thus providing a plausible explanati on for coping differences among HCPs, as well as potential interventions th at facilitate HCPs' adjustment to the deaths of their patients. Copyright ( C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.