The diagnosis of Complicated Grief (CG) is being proposed for inclusion in DSM–5. As such, it has been the focus of several studies purporting to build evidence of its validity and its conceptual and statistical distinction from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression (Bonanno et al., 2007; Golden & Dalgleish, 2010; Prigerson et al., 1995b). However, previous research has focused predominantly on bereavement caused by non-violent means (e.g., prolonged terminal illness). This study attempts to explore the nature of CG among a sample of students who survived a mass shooting. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures were used to examine and confirm the factor structure of CG as reported in previous studies (e.g., Boelen & van den Bout, 2005; Dillen, Fontaine, & Verhofstadt-Denève, 2008). A refined CG scale was then used as a criterion to demonstrate how different types of traumatic exposure contribute to symptoms of CG and/or posttraumatic stress (PTS). It was hypothesized that exposure items related to bereavement would be more related to CG than to PTS, whereas direct exposure to the shootings would be more closely related to PTS than to CG. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported CG as a unitary construct distinct from PTS and from anxiety/depression. Logistic regression results demonstrated that bereavement status was significantly predicted by CG but not PTS: Participants who scored 1 standard deviation above the mean on the CG scale were 14.64 times more likely to have been bereaved than were those who scored at the mean. SEM analyses were used to provide an additional test of this hypothesis. The final model had acceptable fit as assessed by RMSEA = .046, CI = .043–.049, SRMR = .048, and CFI = .990; however, the Satorra-Bentler Scaled Ï 2 = 1507.82, df = 589, p < .001, did not support the model. Overall, results of SEM suggested that interpersonal loss (i.e., whether a friend was killed, injured, or escaped from the shootings) predicted CG but not PTS, whereas perceived threat predicted both CG and PTS. / Ph. D.

One of the most painful events in life that an adolescent can face is the loss of someone with whom they had a strong emotional attachment (Harvey, 2002). This loss could be a friend, relative, parent, or any person that was strongly attached to the adolescent. In today's literature, there is a lack of attention given to adolescents, college students in particular who experience loss. This retrospective study consisted of 224 university students who had lost someone during adolescence or preadolescence. I examined if the impact of the stress accompanied by the loss and the coping strategies used to deal with loss differed by gender and the time in which students experienced their loss. Results from this study indicate that gender plays a significant role in both coping behaviors and the impact of the loss on the individual. In particular, females were found have more coping behaviors and felt a higher degree of impact of the loss than males. Another variable that played a significant factor in this study was the time of loss, early or later in life. Those students who experienced their loss later in life (between 13-19) were impacted more than those who experienced their loss early in life (between 5-12). However, time of loss did not play a role in the individual coping behaviors exhibited. / Master of Science

Yes / The aim of this article is to give an overview of some of the key dimensions of variation in cultural and religious rituals during the immediate period after a death and in the longer term, in order to inform service delivery in multi-cultural societies. For each area we give examples of different customs, and consider their functions and possible impact. Dimensions considered in the immediate period after bereavement are: The time and space given to formal rituals, expression of feelings, assertion of status and disposal of the body. In the longer term, we look at variations in remembering the deceased and in continuing bonds. Throughout we consider the interplay between individual responses and the person¿s cultural and religious context. Our objective is to provide an accessible introduction for practitioners new to working with bereavement and provide a succinct reference point for more experienced bereavement workers. / Full text made available 1st May 2014 at the end of the publisher's embargo period.

No

No

Yes / Death, bereavement, and grief are experiences suffused with conflict and disenfranchisement. Intricately connected is ‘etiquette’ – the sense of ‘should’ ‘must’ ‘right’ ‘wrong’ ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’ individuals feel in death and bereavement situations. This paper is the first of two answering the question, ‘where does etiquette arise in death and bereavement situations and what does this ‘look like?’’ The theme The etiquette of communication and conversation is described, highlighting the importance of early communication for resolving conflict, what is considered ‘appropriate’ communication and support, and the social values underpinning these. Data highlighted how the CBT concept of ‘shoulding and musting’ manifests in death and bereavement situations, gave insight into etiquette’s role in disenfranchising grief through shaping conversations, and offered suggestions for bereavement support. Though the term ‘etiquette’ may be misleading out of context, the concept resonated with the bereaved community and provided language to discuss the nuances of their experiences. / Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

This is a fiction novel about grief, isolation, and loss that takes place in an unnamed rural whaling village in Arctic Alaska. There is also a time-traveling dragon in it. / Master of Fine Arts

Many women experience miscarriage every year. Every fourth woman who has given birth reports that she has previous experience of miscarriage. In a study of all women in the Swedish Medical Birth Register 1983-2003, we found that the number of cases of self reported miscarriage had increased in Sweden during this 21 year period. This increase can be explained by the introduction of sensitive pregnancy tests around 1990, as well as an increase in the mean age of the mothers, by approximately 3 years, during the observation period. The risk of miscarriage is 13% with the first child. With subsequent pregnancies, the risk of miscarriage is 8%, 6% and 4% with the second, third and fourth child, respectively. Thirteen of these women who had suffered a recent miscarriage were interviewed four months later, and their feelings of guilt and emptiness were explored. Their experience was that they wanted their questions to be answered, and that they wanted others to treat them as the mothers to be that they felt themselves to be. They also experienced the need for time to grieve their loss. Measurement of grief by means of the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS) is used in research but has also been proposed for clinical use. We have translated this psychological instrument to Swedish, back-translated and tested it in a small pilot study. In a randomized controlled study, women with early miscarriage were allocated, either to a structured visit (study group) or a regular visit (control group) to a midwife. The structured visit was conducted according to the Swanson caring theory. We could conclude that the structured visit had no significant effect on grief compared to the regular visit, as measured using the PGS. However, women with the sub-diagnosis missed abortion have significantly more grief four months after early miscarriage, regardless of visit type. We also performed a content analysis of the tape-recorded structured follow-up visit. The code-key used was Bonanno and Kaltman’s general grief categorization. Women’s expression of grief after miscarriage was found to be very similar to the grief experienced following the death of a relative. Furthermore, the grief was found to be independent of number of children, women’s age, or earlier experience of miscarriage. Conclusions: Every fourth woman who gives birth reports that she has also experienced early miscarriage. The experience of these women is that they have suffered a substantial loss and their reaction is grief similar to that experienced following the death of a relative.

Sixty-six people who had recently experienced the death of a parent or a spouse completed a questionnaire packet to assess their current grief symptomatology and some characteristics of the relationships within their family. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire 4-5 weeks after the death and then again six months later. The present study compared two competing models to explain whether the grief process affects the characteristics of relationships within the family system or that family characteristics affect the experienced grief symptoms.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:38:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vania de Mello Catelan Sanches.pdf: 647855 bytes, checksum: 4c073204daadb13162c52d342bce17bf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-25 / This work sought the understanding of maternal grief and the aspects that could bring complications to this process. It was considered the nature of the link that would structure between the mother and the replacement child, or rather, the son who was born to soften the pain for the loss of another son and the methodology used was the case study. John Bowlby´s Attachment Theory explains the process of making and breaking of affection bonds, as well as the characteristics of these links. The way each person constructs his/her internal working model, based on the kind of attachment that was developed in early childhood under the influence of the caregivers, determines the way each one will face the difficulties that life brings. The study led to the understanding that mothers with ambivalent and insecure attachments would be more likely to seek a new pregnancy to relieve the pain of loss. The link with the replacement child might be imbued image and influence of the dead child, causing, in some cases, damage to the child's identity / Este trabalho buscou o entendimento do luto materno e os aspectos que possibilitariam complicações nesse processo. A partir dele considerou-se a natureza do vínculo que poderia se formar entre a mãe e o filho substituto, ou melhor, o filho que nasceu para amenizar a dor pela perda do outro, tendo como metodologia o estudo de caso. O referencial teórico apoiou-se na Teoria do Apego de John Bowlby, que esclarece a formação e o rompimento dos vínculos afetivos, assim como as características destes vínculos. A maneira como cada pessoa constrói seu modelo operativo, baseado no tipo de apego que desenvolveu na primeira infância, sob a influência dos cuidadores, determinará o modo de enfrentamento das dificuldades que a vida trará. O estudo possibilitou a compreensão de que mães com apegos inseguros ambivalentes estariam mais propensas a buscar uma nova gravidez para aliviar a dor da perda. O vínculo com o filho substituto pode estar impregnado pela imagem e influência do filho morto, causando, em alguns casos, danos à constituição da identidade deste filho