A Delphi Study on Staff Bereavement Training in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Field.

Boudreau et al. (2015) ran a three-round Delphi survey. They asked 24 grief and IDD experts what frontline staff need to know when a client dies. The panel kept voting until 80 % agreed on each item.

The final list became a ready-to-use training plan. It covers how clients with IDD show grief and how staff can cope with their own loss.

Experts agreed on 62 core topics. Top items: notice grief signs in non-verbal clients, use clear language about death, and give staff time to debrief. They also ranked role-play and peer support as the best ways to teach these skills.

The plan splits content into two tracks: helping clients and helping yourself.

Earlier surveys saw the problem. Hogg et al. (1995) showed staff feel sadness and anger when clients act out. Nevin et al. (2005) added that half take client aggression personally. The new Delphi answers both papers by putting emotion self-care inside formal training.

Hatton et al. (1999) found poor supervisory support raises staff strain. The Delphi panel echoes this: they list regular supervision as a delivery method, not just a nice extra.

Droogmans et al. (2024) recently used staff diaries to show quality moments matter. Their "Harmonization" theme lines up with the Delphi call for honest, empathic talks about death.

Most agencies still give no bereavement module. You can lift the 62-item list and build a one-day workshop. Start with the client track: teach concrete grief signs like changed eating or rocking. Then run the staff track: offer a 30-minute debrief circle after any death. You will meet both the new curriculum standard and the old finding that supported staff stay longer.