Search results for ‘Publisher:"mencap/gateway"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 1 of 1
Breaking bad news
- Author:
- DARWENT Jenny
- Journal article citation:
- Viewpoint, 127, March 2012, pp.18-21.
- Publisher:
- Mencap/Gateway
Dealing with death and bereavement is difficult for everyone but especially so for people with a learning disability. Communication is often obscured by euphemism and historically few people with learning difficulties have been involved in conversations about death. If, as they often did, they lived in long term care visits simply stopped. More recently bereavement in people with a learning disability has been widely researched and links between changed behaviour and grief recognised. Families can sometimes exacerbate the problem by trying to protect the person from feeling sad, meaning emotions are suppressed. Researchers at St George’s Hospital In London have developed a set of guidelines for breaking bad news of all kinds. Key points include: if someone doesn’t want to know something, don’t tell them; breaking bad news is a process, not an event, information should be given in small chunks at the person’s own pace; discover how much is already known and build on that; and whenever possible ensure that the bad news is broken by someone the person knows, involving health professionals for further explanation as necessary. Links to a number of bereavement resources are provided.