Risk rated for three survivors, a contact calendar running to 13 months, and referral thresholds set in advance define the NU435 Unit 9 bereavement support plan for one composite family. Searches like "nu 435 unit 9 assignment example", "nu435 unit 9 sample" and "nu435 unit 9 example" land here.
The Family as the Unit of Care: A Bereavement Support Plan Ordered by Risk, Not by Closeness
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU435: Hospice and Palliative Nursing Care
Unit 9 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Composite family written as a model document. Ratings are composite.
Risk Assessment
Completed at admission and repeated at the death visit with the Bereavement Risk Assessment Tool (Victoria Hospice Society, n.d.).
Son, 38: high. History of depression; lives four hours away; last visit was two weeks before the death.
Widow, 61: moderate. Caregiver exhaustion over fourteen months; financial strain after leaving her job; a small social circle.
Granddaughter, 10: moderate. Spent weekends in the house during the illness; saw her grandfather's decline.
Contact Calendar
Within one to two weeks: phone call to each adult.
Month 1: home visit with the widow; call to the son.
Months 2, 3, 6 and 9: mailings on grief, and calls matched to risk.
Month 12: anniversary call to each adult.
Month 13: closing letter, marking the end of the bereavement period hospices provide.
The Son
His section comes first because his risk is highest, even though his mother is the closer survivor. Calls every two weeks for the first three months from the bereavement counselor, not a volunteer. Each call asks about sleep, appetite, work and thoughts of self-harm. His outpatient therapist, with his consent, is informed of the death.
The Widow
The dual process model describes healthy grieving as moving back and forth between loss and restoration, attending to grief and to the practical tasks of a changed life (Stroebe & Schut, 1999). Her calls therefore ask about the pension forms and selling his car as well as about how she is grieving; attention to either is expected. Monthly calls from a trained volunteer, and a caregivers' grief group that meets near her home.
The Granddaughter
Worden's tasks of mourning include accepting the reality of the loss and finding an enduring connection with the person who died (Worden, 2018). In words a 10-year-old uses: "Grandpa's body stopped working, and he can't come back. It's okay to be sad and to still have fun. You can keep remembering him." With her parents' permission, the school counselor is told, and she is offered a memory box to fill with things from his house.
Referral Thresholds, Written in Advance
Any caller refers to the bereavement counselor if a survivor mentions thoughts of self-harm, stops eating or working for more than two weeks, or cannot manage daily tasks. For adults, grief that remains intense and disabling beyond twelve months may meet criteria for prolonged grief disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2022) and is referred for evaluation.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). American Psychiatric Publishing.
Stroebe, M., & Schut, H. (1999). The dual process model of coping with bereavement: Rationale and description. Death Studies, 23(3), 197-224.
Victoria Hospice Society. (n.d.). Bereavement risk assessment tool. Victoria Hospice Society.
Worden, J. W. (2018). Grief counseling and grief therapy: A handbook for the mental health practitioner (5th ed.). Springer Publishing.
How this NU435 Unit 9 example is structured
Order follows risk. The assessment comes first because every later choice, contact frequency, who calls and when referral happens, depends on it, and the plan says which findings raised each rating. The son's section precedes the widow's for that reason, though she is the closer survivor. Theory shapes contact rather than decorating the introduction: the dual process model of Stroebe and Schut explains why the widow's calls ask about practical tasks, the pension forms and the car, as well as about grief, since moving between loss and rebuilding is expected. Worden's tasks frame the granddaughter's section, with concrete language and a school counselor contact. Referral thresholds are written in advance, including symptoms persisting beyond twelve months that may meet criteria for prolonged grief disorder, so a volunteer caller knows when to hand on.
Get an NU435 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Families in bereavement prompts vary widely, and a plan should follow the one in your case, down to relatives mentioned only in passing. Where the course names a grief framework, the plan uses it. Send the scenario and rubric; a plan fitted to them costs nothing the first time and arrives within 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
NU435 Unit 9 questions, answered
Which grief theory should a bereavement plan use?
Whichever your course materials present, applied to the family rather than summarized. Worden's tasks of mourning and Stroebe and Schut's dual process model are both common and suit different purposes, the first for framing what a survivor works through, the second for explaining why grief alternates with daily tasks. Continuing bonds theory can support memory activities. One theory used well outscores three listed.
Is prolonged grief disorder something the plan should mention?
Briefly, as a referral trigger rather than a diagnosis the nurse makes. It was added to the DSM-5-TR in 2022, with persistent intense grief lasting at least twelve months after a loss for adults. A plan can name it among the signs that prompt referral to a qualified clinician, while treating ordinary grief in the first year as expected rather than disordered.
Does the plan cover the person who died?
Only as context. By Unit 9 the family is the unit of care, and the plan's subject is how each survivor is supported afterward. A paragraph on the death itself, where and how it happened, helps explain risk factors, such as a death that was difficult to witness. The sample keeps that paragraph short and invented, as your case should be.