AURORA@COVID19-EU: Articulating a Unified Response to the Covid-19 Outbreak Reconstruction After loss in Europe

<< Background >>The AURORA project was initiated to address the critical need for improved grief and bereavement care in southern European countries, particularly following the devastating impact of COVID-19. Portugal, Spain, and Italy were among the most affected nations, facing high mortality rates and significant social and psychological consequences. Despite the urgent demand for specialized bereavement support, these countries lacked structured national strategies and sufficient resources to address the complex needs of grieving individuals.The project aimed to fill this gap by enhancing the skills of psychologists and professionals who interact with the bereaved, ensuring they could provide effective, culturally sensitive interventions. It also sought to build community capacity through the training of indirect agents and informal support networks, fostering a healthier cultural approach to death and grief and more compassionate societies.By developing evidence-based resources and training programs, the project tackled systemic challenges, created sustainable practices, and promoted sharing of knowledge and cross-border collaboration to improve bereavement care quality across Europe. << Objectives >>The AURORA project aimed to:1.Enhance Professional Skills: Train 160 psychologists, 200 direct agents, and 200 indirect agents in Portugal, Spain, and Italy to provide effective grief interventions, particularly in response to challenges posed by COVID-19.2.Develop Evidence-Based Resources: Create high-quality training manuals and a Good Practices Guidelines Manual to standardize bereavement care, adjusted to COVID-19 specific challenges and risk factors and ensure accessibility for diverse professional and informal support networks.3.Promote Cultural Awareness and Education: Foster a healthier cultural approach to death and grieving by equipping communities with tools and knowledge to navigate bereavement.4.Improve Community Support: Build the capacity of local networks, including informal support providers, to assist bereaved individuals and reduce the risk of complicated grief reactions.5.Strengthen International Collaboration: Leverage cross-border partnerships to share expertise, establish sustainable practices, and address the needs of bereaved individuals in culturally sensitive ways.Ultimately, the project sought to create a long-lasting, systemic impact on bereavement care in Europe.<< Implementation >>The AURORA project implemented a comprehensive set of activities to address its objectives:1.Training Needs Assessment: Conducted in-depth interviews and online surveys with 683 participants, including psychologists, direct agents (e.g., healthcare professionals, funeral directors), and indirect agents (e.g., community members), to identify training requirements.2.Development of Manuals: Created three training manuals tailored respectively to psychologists, direct agents, and indirect agents, and a Good Practices Guidelines Manual to standardize grief interventions, adjusted to COVID-19 specific challenges/risk factors.3.Pilot Training Activities: 13 clinical psychologists from the team were initially trained in Denmark. They were then responsible for delivering the training sessions across Portugal, Spain, and Italy, involving 922 participants, including 216 psychologists, 412 direct agents, and 294 indirect agents.4.Clinical Studies: Supported bereaved individuals through interventions in Portugal and Spain, engaging 101 bereaved to address complicated grief reactions.5.Dissemination Efforts: Organized multiplier events, developed an official website, used social media, and published scientific papers to share results.6.Collaboration and Monitoring: Monthly task force meetings and international collaboration ensured task alignment, progress tracking, and high-quality outputs.These activities combined fostered sustainable improvements in bereavement care.<< Results >>The AURORA project achieved a range of impactful outputs and results, contributing significantly to grief and bereavement care:1.Development of Training Manuals: Three specialized manuals were created to address the needs of key groups—psychologists, direct agents, and indirect agents.2.Good Practices Guidelines: This manual consolidated evidence-based strategies to establish high standards in bereavement care, serving as a foundational resource for practitioners and institutions.3.Extensive Training Reach: The project successfully trained almost 70% above our proposal thereby improving the support available to bereaved individuals.4.Clinical Studies: Interventions for the bereaved that address complicated grief reactions through tailored strategies that result in a measurable improvement in well-being of 68% over what we originally proposed.Besides these concrete outputs and expected results, the project achieved a significant scientific and academic impact and a widespread dissemination, that will endure and ensure ongoing dissemination beyond the project’s duration.