Background: Family caregivers take on much of the burden of end-of-life care for most patients. Provision of bereavement information and support is an expected function of specialist palliative care services. However, the impact of bereavement services is not well understood. Bereavement services are often described as providing universal interventions regardless of the need, though the assertion lacks evidence. 

Aim: A central aim of this research was to assess the preferences for, and impact of, service-initiated contact and subsequent use of support. Further, self-reported data were gathered on preparedness, impact of support, adjustment, and signs of problems moving forward. 

Method: Data were gathered from a consecutive sample of bereaved caregivers (224/1057) from an Australian specialist palliative site using a purpose-designed, self-administered questionnaire. Current adjustment was self-reported using the Prolonged Grief tool, PG-13. 

Results: Participants were bereaved between 20-55 months, ages ranged from 24 to 94 years, 71.0% had experienced the death of a partner, and 75.9% were female.  Thematic analysis showed that the provision of bereavement information and pathways to support provides a ‘safety net’. The decision to make use of bereavement services was related to self-assessed need and not simply because of contact. Most reported little difficulty in adjustment though 16.8% experienced regular heightened symptoms of grief. Multivariate analysis indicated the negative impact of poor preparedness, with 62.1% feeling under-prepared. Caregiver preparedness for an expected death was reported to be influenced by healthcare professionals' communication skills.  

Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that bereaved caregivers experience value in service-initiated delivery of grief information and pathways to support, which is experienced as safety net. Provision of information on pathways to support eases that burden upon the bereaved when seeking support. Significantly, service-initiated contact can be distinguished from counselling interventions. Use of support was not solely due to service-initiated contact.