Background Nursing research is dedicated to improving care, but research into end of life care can be challenging because of a possible reluctance by researchers to invite bereaved people to take part in studies.

Aim To use a focused mapping approach to explore the recruitment to studies of grieving and bereaved people.

Discussion There is no ‘gold standard’ method of recruitment and no best way to approach participants. The outcome of each method, measured by the percentage of potential participants recruited, appears to be unrelated to the approach used.

Conclusion There is no evidence that participation in research harms those who have recently been bereaved, but there is evidence of benefits from participating.

Implications for practice Researchers should not feel they need to protect the bereaved from participating in research and can invite bereaved individuals to join a study without worrying about causing them harm.