Grief Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic:Multiple Group Comparisons

CONTEXT: Grief researchers are concerned that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic will precipitate increases in severe, persistent, and disabling grief, termed prolonged grief disorder or persistent complex bereavement disorder. We recently demonstrated that higher grief levels are experienced after COVID-19-related bereavement than natural bereavement. Death circumstances during the pandemic (e.g., reduced social support, limited opportunities for death rituals) may also hamper the grief process for non-COVID-19-related bereavement, yet no quantitative research has specifically addressed this issue. OBJECTIVES: To test if grief severity is higher during than before the lockdown after non-COVID-19-related bereavement. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey including questions on sociodemographic and loss-related variables and a grief measure was conducted among a sample of 1600 bereaved adults (78% females), participating before (n = 731) or during (n = 869) the pandemic, including people who had experienced a loss before the pandemic (n = 456) or during the pandemic (n = 200) recently (five months ago or less). RESULTS: No significant differences emerged between grief levels in people participating before or during the pandemic. However, being recently bereaved during the pandemic elicited more severe grief than before it (d = 0.17; d = 0.18). Effects remained significant after controlling analyses for relevant loss-related variables. CONCLUSION: Among all bereaved persons, grief severity was no different during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic. However, experiencing a recent loss during the pandemic elicited more severe acute grief reactions than before the pandemic, suggesting that dealing with loss may be more difficult during this ongoing health crisis

COVID-19, natural, and unnatural bereavement:Comprehensive comparisons of loss circumstances and grief severity

BACKGROUND: Acute grief appears more severe after COVID-19 deaths than natural deaths. Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) also appears prevalent following COVID-19 deaths. Researchers hypothesize that specific loss characteristics and pandemic-related circumstances may precipitate more severe grief following COVID-19 deaths compared to (other) natural deaths. Systematic research on these hypotheses may help identify those most at risk for severe grief reactions, yet it is scant. OBJECTIVE: To compare loss characteristics, loss circumstances, and grief levels among people bereaved due to COVID-19, natural, and unnatural causes. METHODS: Adults bereaved through COVID-19 (n = 99), natural causes (n = 1006), and unnatural causes (n = 161) completed an online survey. We administered self-report measures of demographic variables (i.e., age, gender), loss characteristics (i.e., time since loss, relationship with the deceased, intensive care admission, expectedness of death), loss circumstances (i.e., saying goodbye appropriately, COVID-19 infection, quarantine, financial setbacks, social support satisfaction, altered funeral arrangements, funeral satisfaction), and prolonged grief symptoms. RESULTS: COVID-19 deaths (vs. other deaths) more often were parental deaths and less often child deaths. COVID-19 deaths (vs. natural deaths) were more often unexpected and characterized by an inability to say goodbye appropriately. People bereaved due to COVID-19 (vs. other deaths) were more often infected and quarantined. COVID-19 deaths (vs. other deaths) more often involved intensive care admission and altered funeral arrangements. COVID-19 deaths yielded higher grief levels than natural deaths (but not unnatural deaths). Expectedness of the death and the inability to say goodbye appropriately explained this effect. CONCLUSIONS: Bereavement due to COVID-19 is characterized by a unique set of loss characteristics and circumstances and elevated grief levels. Improving opportunities to say goodbye before and after death (e.g., by means of rituals) may provide an important means to prevent and reduce severe grief following COVID-19 deaths. HIGHLIGHTS: COVID-19 deaths have unique loss characteristics and circumstances and elicit more severe grief than natural deaths. Death expectedness and the ability to say goodbye appropriately appear important in understanding, preventing and treating grief following COVID-19 deaths

A comparison of in situ and in vitro methods to estimate in vivo fermentable organic matter of forages in ruminants

Farmers in five districts of north-eastern Uganda were interviewed to generate information on sweet potato production and constraints, with emphasis on damage by millipedes. Participatory rural appraisal methodology was used to interview 148 farmers. The peak period of planting sweet potato was from the end of May till the beginning of July in order to produce dried form food (amukeke) for storage in the dry season, which sets in around November. Vine cuttings were usually planted on mounds and weeding was mostly done only once. Osukut, Araka Red and Araka White were the most popular varieties. Many respondents obtained planting material from volunteer plants. Separation of plots over time and in space was often not practised. Sweet potato crop rotations were diverse. Millet, groundnut and maize were commonly grown after sweet potato. Cassava, sweet potato, groundnut and maize are host crops for millipedes and were often grown in succession. Millipede incidences were not statistically different for the three agro-ecological zones of north-eastern Uganda, but depended on the frequency of millipede hosts (including sweet potato) in the crop rotations. Groundnut planted after sweet potato had high levels of millipede attack. Millipede incidence was often associated with the incidence of weevils. The results of this inventory show that most farmers consider millipedes as a pest of sweet potato and other major food and cash crops, but that many farmers lack the knowledge to control them

Acute grief after deaths due to COVID-19, natural causes and unnatural causes:An empirical comparison

Background: There are now over 800,000 registered deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Researchers have suggested that COVID-19 death characteristics (e.g., intensive care admission, unexpected death) and circumstances (e.g., secondary stressors, social isolation) will precipitate a worldwide increase of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD). Yet, no study has investigated this. Since acute grief is a strong predictor of future pathological grief, we compared grief levels among people recently bereaved due to COVID-19, natural, and unnatural causes. Methods: People bereaved through COVID-19 (n = 49), natural causes (n = 1182), and unnatural causes (n = 210), completed self-report measures of demographic and loss-related characteristics and PGD and PCBD symptoms. Results: COVID-19 bereavement yielded higher symptom levels of PGD (d = 0.42) and PCBD (d = 0.35) than natural bereavement (but not unnatural bereavement). Effects held when limiting analyses to recent losses and those who participated during the pandemic. Expectedness of the death explained this effect. Limitations: Limitations include using a convenience sample and self-report measures. Conclusions: Higher grief levels occur among people bereaved due to COVID-19 compared to people bereaved due to natural loss. We predict that pandemic-related increases in pathological grief will become a worldwide public health concern

Actualisatie excretiecijfers landbouwhuisdieren voor forfaits regeling Meststoffenwet

LNV heeft de Commissie van Deskundigen Meststoffenwet (CDM) gevraagd voor de diercategorieën uit de meststoffenwet de excretiecijfers te valideren en zo nodig te actualiseren. De hiervoor in het leven geroepen werkgroep heeft de forfaits uit de meststoffenwet kritisch vergeleken met de excretiecijfers uit recente rapporten (o.a. CBS) en met de gemiddelde excretiecijfers zoals die met de nu beschikbare informatie worden berekend. De door de CDM verwachte gemiddelde excretie van N en P door melkkoeien in de periode 2006-2009 is hoger dan de in de praktijk gerealiseerde gemiddelde excretie, voornamelijk doordat bij de vaststelling van de verwachte excretie met een geringer aandeel snijmaïs in het rantsoen rekening is gehouden dan in de praktijk nu wordt gerealiseer