Grief Coach: Feasibility and acceptability of a text message programme for bereavement support among grievers in the United Kingdom (Journal Article)
Levesque, D. A., Lunardini, M. M., Adams, S. N., Payne, E. L., & Neumann, B. G. (2024). Grief Coach: Feasibility and acceptability of a text message programme for bereavement support among grievers in the United Kingdom. Death Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2024.2334080To address gaps in bereavement services in the UK, a national charity offered free access to Grief Coach, a 12-month text message-based grief support programme. To assess the feasibility and acceptability of the approach, this study examined programme reach, retention, and user satisfaction. Over 4000 grievers enrolled in the programme over 13.5 months; 6- and 12-month retention rates were 87.8% and 83.2%. Among individuals responding to a satisfaction survey (response rate = 55.9%), 94.8% rated the programme as moderately or very helpful and 95.4% said it contributed to their sense of being supported in their grief. Common themes emerging from a qualitative analysis of the written comments were how the programme helped with coping with the pain of grief and user appreciation of the programme. Grief Coach may be a promising component of high-quality grief support to meet the needs of grieving people in the UK.