Hiring in life sciences? Share your open positions with our professional community. Read more Close

Advertisement

"How Is a Person Honored when They're Shut Inside a Sack?": The Experiences of Grief and Funerary Practices in Greece During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Created on 01 Jul 2026

Authors

Charalampos Risvas, Anastasia Riza, Lissy Canellopoulos, Flora Koliouli, Matroni Tzatzadaki, Evangelia Markopoulou, Konstantina Potea, Marilena Alifragki, Menia Botopoulou, Myrto Maragoudaki, Konstantina Chondrogianni, Antonios Poulios, Christina Alexopoulos de Girard, Sofia Kleisari, Eleftheria Sourba, Danai Stamati, Eva Stefanakou, Marie-Frédérique Bacqué

Published in

Omega. Pages 302228261465518. Jul 01, 2026. Epub Jul 01, 2026.

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to explore how bereaved adults in Greece experienced pandemic-related disruptions to funerary bodily care and rituals, and how these impediments shaped their mourning. Thirteen adults who lost a loved one between May 2020 and June 2021 participated in semi-structured interviews, and the data were subjected to Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). The participants described their experiences of health restrictions, their psycho-emotional reactions to the loss, underscoring aggravating and protective factors during mourning. The prohibition of taking care of the deceased person's body was experienced by some as a rupture, contributing to a sense of unfinished business, and highlighting the crucial importance of the body in honoring the dead. Nevertheless, some participants described private, relational, and spiritual efforts to honor their dead and restore meaning. These findings are discussed as a culturally positioned account of ritual disruptions within the Greek cultural context, having implications for grief support and public-health responses in cases of sanitary crises.

PMID:
42383319
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Advertisement

Stats

  • Community rating n/a 0 votes
  • Reviewers' rating n/a 0 votes
  • Your rating

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

  • Recommendations n/a n/a positive of 0 vote(s)
  • Views 3
  • Comments 0

Recommended by

  • No recommendations yet.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Advertisement