Endless sorrow: A qualitative study on bereaved persons who encountered with grief during COVID-19 pandemic

Grief is a natural experience that helps bereaved people process the pain of loss and move toward healing. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the bereaved people were faced with unprecedented conditions due to the absence of mourning ceremonies. The present study was to explore the personal experience by which the bereaved ones encountered the situation.

A qualitative study was conducted with a purposeful sample of Iranians who had lost a family member due to the virus. Data were collected using unstructured interviews until saturation was research. The study was conducted during 2021-2022

We interviewed 16 bereaved people. The data analysis revealed 14 subcategories, 3 categories: failed mourning, bitter loneliness, incomplete gestalt of grief and a core theme as endless sorrow.

The findings showed that not holding mourning ceremony during the covid-19 epidemic caused bereaved people with a large number of unfulfilled expectations. It seems that there is need to find a way through the stages of mourning for these people by addressing their expectations and wishes.