Expressions of Continuity of Ties in People Experiencing Mourning for the Death of a Loved Being

Abstract

Introduction: The continuity of ties is a perspective of any recent grief that has been studied to show how it is expressed in grieving people and its function in the face of the loss of a loved one.

Objective: To identify expressions of continuity of ties in people who experience grief over the death of a loved one.

Methods: An integrative review was carried out in five stages, which included full-text studies published in open access journals, in English, Spanish or Portuguese, from 1997 to 2021. It excluded information contained in books, theses, editorials or opinions, and studies unrelated to the death of a person. The research question used the PICo acronym. A search strategy was performed in the PubMed, SciELO, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Sciences databases during 2022. An amount of 303 documents were identified. The final sample was 28 articles, which were evaluated with the critical appraisal tools proposed by Joanna Briggs Institute, reduced and analyzed using the constant comparative method.

Conclusions: Expressions of continuity of ties are links referring to the deceased person, which could be manifested by thoughts and feelings, altered perceptions, imitation, status negotiation, paranormal experiences or rites about death. They have different roles and functions in grieving people. For mental health nursing, its study represents a broader vision in the care of people in mourning that favors a person-centered approach by validating their own history and its meaning.