Scoping review identifies gaps in proactive bereavement support programs for individuals affected by suicide, suggesting a need for better approaches.
Background Grief following a loved one’s suicide is especially painful. While the search for an explanation, a tendency to visualize the scene of the death, and impacts on personal relationships can compound grief, feelings of shame, guilt, shock, and bewilderment can deter the bereaved from seeking help. Nevertheless, postvention programs are rarely proactive. Aim From the scientific literature, the aim of this scoping review was to identify the characteristics of existing postvention programs. Method Following PRISMA-SCR 2020 guidelines, 40 articles were included in the review. Results The articles included described 30 supports programs. Results confirmed the paucity of bereavement support programs that conform to research-based recommendations, according to which support should be proactive, early, flexible and collaborative. Conclusion These findings highlight the need for further studies of bereavement support programs.
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Coquelin et al. (2025) studied this question.
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