The research on bereaved children’s outcomes is mixed, with the course of grief in young people prone to variation. Each child’s reaction following a loss is unique and should be considered in relation to psychological, academic, familial, social, environmental, and a number of additional factors. However, what is known is the important role that a supportive environment, stable adult figures, and early intervention may have for grieving youth. Teachers could be considered the first line of defense in identifying youth who are struggling with a loss, as they are significant adults with whom students have consistent contact on a daily basis. However, very little is known about the teacher’s role in the identification and support of grieving students. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to explore the teacher’s role in the grief support process at school, as well as teacher perceptions of childhood grief and the ways in which a teacher’s own early experiences with death may affect the provision of services. These factors were explored through the administration of an online mixed-methods survey to a random sample of 225 Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers in the state of Kentucky. The findings of this study were supportive of the hypothesis that having a bereaved student in class is nearly universal. The majority of teachers in this study reported receiving no training related to death and grief issues pre-service, with minimal training offered at the school level. Teacher perceptions about grief were not found to differ significantly overall between teachers of various school levels, counties, or early-bereaved status. Additional findings, limitations, implications, as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by Lynette P. Spillman for the Department of Sociology. "December 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-197).

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Student Number : 0204770E - MEd research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / The present study investigates a bereavement training programme with a group of volunteer lay counsellors. In South Africa, the number of orphans resulting from an increase in parental deaths from natural causes, such as AIDS and nonnatural causes, for example violence, is increasing rapidly. The increasing number of bereaved children is creating a demand for professional support services that cannot be met by the present number of trained professionals. To address this imbalance, the training of lay counsellors is proposed. It is thus relevant to train those who are willing to help with the necessary knowledge and skills in a bereavement training programme. The present study involves ten volunteers from a Community Centre. Qualitative research methods are employed to analyse the data that is gained from the preand post-training responses to the interviews and Case Examples. Content analysis is used to elucidate the themes that emerge from the collected data. The results of the present study indicate that perceptual and developmental changes have occurred within the volunteers following the training programme, however, it is evident that further training is necessary because of the limited ability that the volunteers demonstrate in practically transferring the knowledge to new cases. In terms of this finding it is clear that factors such as language, age, educational level and personal experiences of death are important criteria to consider in the selection of volunteers for a bereavement training programme. Furthermore, traditional African perspectives of death, cultural differences and HIV/AIDS awareness need to be incorporated into future bereavement training programmes. In terms of the outcomes of the study, a positive outcome is the revision of the Bereavement Programme for children, taking cognisance of cultural sensitiveness, to make it more applicable within the local context. The results of the study also highlight the limitations and implications of the present research, which are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.

Music plays an important role in Mexican funeral ceremonies, acting as a vehicle for men to acceptably express emotions of bereavement. As an important symbol of mexicanidad (Mexicanness), mariachi music is often used in traditional Catholic funerals, ritualizing grief equally as a mourning of loss and a celebration of the life of a deceased person. Although a form of popular music, mariachi's secular songs go through a process of sacralization, becoming meaningful sites for experiencing grief. As a musical expression of Mexico's idealized gender norms mariachi opens an aesthetic sphere for masculine grief to be expressed, experienced, and socialized in an acceptable form. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the musical mediation of masculine grief, experienced and ritualized within funeral ceremonies, and observed through an ethnographic study of Mexican immigrant communities.

Background and Aims: Whilst bereavement is a generally a normal process of adjustment, for some individuals the outcome can be more serious. Current bereavement research has produced inconclusive results to date and been criticised on many levels. A gap has been identified between research and the practice of bereavement therapy.The aim of this thesis is to examine a relatively new and under researched approach to the treatment of grief, namely the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It is proposed that this approach could provide an empirically sound model on which therapists could base their interventions. Method: Firstly a conceptual review examines the key components of ACT and their applicability to grief work. Secondly, a qualitative piece of research uses interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the lived experiences of both therapists and clients who have used the approach. Results: The conceptual review finds a good degree of fit between the components of the ACT therapeutic model and the needs and aims of bereavement work. The qualitative study provides preliminary support for the application of the model in the treatment of grief, indicating positive experiences for both therapists and clients particularly in its valuing of the individual nature of grief, its ability to put suffering into a positive context and its strength in dealing with emotional and thought related issues. Implications: The thesis provides a theoretical underpinning and an exploration of practice in the treatment of grief which may be useful for therapists considering a new approach to grief work or those developing services for the bereaved.

Competency assessment and evaluation for all psychological therapies are now a common requirement. Recent international research studies have resulted in the development of the phrase ‘death competence’ as “tolerating and managing clients’ problems related to dying, death, and bereavement” with an urging for death work competence to be an ethical imperative (Gamino & Ritter, 2012). A further study of 176 death work professionals using an open ended question and content analysis proposed a model of death work competence that suggests it is dependent on more than knowledge and skills, with the emergence of emotional and existential coping as key elements (Chan & Tin, 2012). This study aims to build on this existing research with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of six existential practitioners` experience of feeling competent in their death work, grounding the research in Heidegger`s notion of being-towards-death. The aim was to get as close as possible to the lived experience of death work competency in a small, purposive sample to investigate the subjective meanings and understandings of their death work competency. Semi structured interviews were conducted with five major themes emerging. These were frameworks for death work competency; existential engagement in competent death work; existential ways of being in death work; the psychological impact of death work on feelings of competency and the elusive essence of death work competency. The significant finding was the primary import placed by all participants on dialogues with personal mortality, suffering and death as providing them with “competency in adversity” and “competency in fragility” that were vital for their competent death work, both personally and professionally. These findings match the identification of existential coping and emotional coping as key elements in death work competency in the previous research. From this research a tentative framework is proposed for death work competency that looks to include these vital elements of an engagement with existential issues and personal mortality, for counselling psychologists and death work practitioners. Further research is suggested with regards to the absence or presence of similar experiences of death work competencies in other fields of death work with wider implications for training in both professional organisations and teaching institutions.

The grief experienced by mothers and fathers when their child is diagnosed with a life threatening chronic-illness was investigated in order to validate the presence of grief in these parents and look at the factors that influence it. More specifically, I was interested in whether the grief experience differed for mothers and fathers and the impact that perceptions and coping have on both these gender differences in grief and on grief in general. The particular population investigated in this study were parents of children with Cystic Fibrosis. Participants were recruited through questionnaires randomly sent out by the National Cystic Fibrosis Association. In all, 37 mothers and 15 fathers took part. Results not only confirmed presence of grief in these parents but also indicated that this grief differs for mothers and fathers, with mothers reporting significantly higher levels of physical distress. In line with the literature no gender differences were found in regards to perception of impact parents felt their child's chronic-illness had had on their lives. Contrary to what was expected, however, no differences were found amongst the coping strategies used by mothers and fathers. In regards to the question of which factors have the greatest impact on the grief experienced by mothers and fathers combined, the coping strategy of self-blame was found to be the most important, followed closely by negative perceptions. The significance of these findings and their implications for parents and the people who work with them was discussed.